A Twist In Fate
by Jesse A. Harper
Summary: When a young woman accidentally hits a dog on her way home from work, she ends up getting much more than what she bargained for; especially when she starts to realize that her new pet isn't exactly a dog. And since when do dogs have violet eyes?
1. Chapter 1: The Oddest of Places

**A Twist In Fate**

"There will be a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." – Louis L'Amour

**Chapter One:**

**The Oddest of Places**

Sanzo cursed wildly under his breath as he dodged the vehicles that zipped about on the blacktop, wincing at the horns blaring in his direction as the drivers of said vehicles expressed their extreme displeasure at his actions. How in the hell had he ended up here?! The last thing he remembered was stopping their journey West yet again to deal with a bunch of demonic idiots out after the Maten sutra, and…

Oh, fuck.

The monk growled out a series of expletives as he tried to avoid becoming roadkill, a scowl marring his face as he remembered what had taken place mere seconds before he found himself stranded on this God-forsaken stretch of blacktop populated by drivers worse than Hakkai. One of the demons had managed to get past his guard while he was exterminating one of its friends, and had blasted him full-force with a spell while using an amulet of some kind.

Whatever he had been hit with certainly wasn't exactly benign, seeing as his entire body hurt like hell, not to mention the fact that it had transported him into some long-forgotten hellhole where people drove like maniacs. If he ever got the little youkai bastard responsible for this in his sights, the snot would rue the day that his father had popped into existence.

Sanzo let out a low growl of annoyance as he managed to avoid yet another incoming car before it hit him that something was horribly wrong with his perspective. Everything seemed to be bigger, and something about his body in general didn't feel quite right…

Just as the priest was about to check himself to see just what the hell was going on, one of the oncoming cars let its horn loose, blaring loudly at the confused man. Sanzo cursed colorfully as he stumbled out of the way into a different lane of traffic, and turned around in time to see a large truck bearing down on him.

This was not good.

--

Kristen Fargo was not having a good day.

Not only had her roommate decided that 'The Ring' was a good movie to watch out in the living room at two in the morning while the twenty-one year old was trying to sleep, leaving the young woman haunted by disturbing dreams for the remainder of the night until she had to get up at six, but her section manager at work had tried to get her in trouble by sabotaging her preliminary sketches for the new video game that her group was working on. Unfortunately for the offending individual, he had learned the hard way that hot coffee (what he had used to destroy the copies of her character sketches) was a double-edged weapon when one of her partners had 'accidentally' spilled the remainder of the pot of fresh coffee on the man.

Add in the photo copier practically exploding, and her partner's computer crashing while re-creating the sketches into a more refined media, and Kristen was dangerously close to killing someone. And now, as though to top off what had already been a really crappy day, she was stuck on the freeway in rush hour traffic.

Apparently the Irony Gods loved screwing with her.

"I can't believe this," she growled as she glared daggers at the back bumper of the car in front of her, gripping her truck's steering wheel tightly in her hands. "I worked for a week on those damn sketches, and that smug little bastard has the gall to try and ruin them just for the hell of it. Thank god for jump drives and scanners though, otherwise I would have been screwed."

The young woman let out a world-weary sigh as she brushed several strands of her long brown hair out of her face, the renegade strands having slipped out of the low ponytail at the nape of her neck, before tucking them behind her ear. All she really wanted to do right now was go home, take a shower, heat up some of that soup left over from the huge pot she had made on Sunday, maybe watch a little TV, and go to sleep.

Not being woken up in the middle of the night by her horror-movie/anime obsessed roommate, who was also still in college, would only be an added bonus.

Kristen mused a little bit on the wonderful mess that had been her day before she shook her head and pushed away all thoughts on the subject, frowning slightly as she reached over and fiddled with her CD player on her dashboard. If she was going to be stuck in traffic, she might as well have something to entertain her.

As the wonderful sounds of Nickleback filled the car, Kristen slowly felt herself begin to relax as she idly watched the traffic in front of her. Just when she was about to put the truck into park, the rest of the cars ahead of her began to pick up the pace, and soon everyone was moving at a somewhat normal speed once again.

"Finally," the young woman muttered as she gently accelerated up to the speed limit. She was approaching her exit, and about to move over into the off-ramp lane when her headlights lit up something gold and white bolting right out in front of her. Kristen instinctively slammed on the brakes, her eyes widening in horror as she heard the tell-tale 'thump' of her front bumper hitting _something_ right before she jerked to a stop.

"Shit," she hissed as she immediately put the truck into park, flicking on her hazard lights before she managed to untangle herself from her seatbelt. "Shit shit shit shit shit."

Pointedly ignoring the other cars that were currently zipping past her at highway speeds, the twenty-one-year old got out of her car and hesitantly approached the front of her truck, silently praying that whatever she had hit hadn't been alive.

That one slim hope plummeted straight down into her shoes when she saw the massive collie that was currently stretched out in front of her truck, its body resting limply on the road.

"Oh my god, I just hit someone's dog," Kristen moaned as she covered her mouth with her hands, trying not to freak out as a wave of nausea tried to well up from her stomach. "I'm going to hell."

She had never hit anything with her car before, and now she felt like a murderer for killing someone's pet. Knowing her luck at the moment, it probably belonged to some little kid who was worried sick about their missing dog, and hoping that it would come back home.

Just as the young woman was about to break down into the worst level of panic she had ever known, she noticed that the massive animal's chest was still moving. Relief flooded through her system as she crouched down next to the collie and gently reached out to touch the injured canine's head, flinching slightly when it whimpered at her touch.

"Okay Kit, just calm down," she whispered to herself as she took a deep breath and stared shakily at the animal. "Freaking out right now will **not** help things at all. Just calm down, and figure something out."

The brunette knew that she couldn't leave the animal here, but she needed to do **something** since she didn't know how badly injured the dog was. A slight frown crossed her face before an idea came to her, and her blue eyes widened in realization as she bolted to her feet and hurried over to the passenger door, flinging it open and digging about in the back seat for a few seconds before she found what she was looking for; a very worn but clean blanket.

Snatching the blanket out of the back seat, the young woman hurried back over to where the dog lay and spread the blanket out on the pavement next to prone canine.

"Please don't bite me," she muttered to the collie as she managed to gently slide the animal onto the blanket, and then picked it up, gasping slightly at the sudden weight as she cradled the massive dog in her arms. "I'm just trying to help you."

Somehow, Kit managed to get the Collie into the back seat without any major mishaps, except for almost giving herself a hernia in the process. The young woman made sure that the dog was safely placed on the seat before she closed the door, and then went back over to the driver's side and got in, belting herself into the seat the moment she had locked the door. With slightly shaking hands, she pulled her cell-phone out of her jacket pocket and dialed the number to her apartment, hoping that her roommate was actually home when she needed her for a change.

"Y'lo?" Alice asked as she picked up the phone, and Kit almost collapsed in relief as she put her truck into drive and headed onto the off ramp, immediately switching her phone to speaker and setting it down on the console between the front seats.

"Hey Alice, I need you to do a huge favor for me," the brunette stated seriously as she pulled up to the stoplight at the exit to the freeway. "I need you to look up the closest vet between the freeway and home, preferably one that's still open right now."

"Why, what did you do?" the other woman asked lazily, and Kit scowled slightly when she heard the sounds of some horror movie going on in the background.

"I hit someone's dog on the freeway, and now I'm trying to make sure it doesn't die on me," she growled. "Now just go on the Internet and tell me where the closest damn vet is."

"Alright, alright, no need to get all bitchy on me. Sheesh, you need to loosen up one and a while."

"Lecture me after you give me the address, okay?"

"Sounds to me like someone needs to get laid. It might help with all that stress."

"Alice!"

"Okay, okay, geeze, no need to take my head off," the college student grumbled as she did as the other woman had requested, although without her unwanted input this time. "The closest vet office open right now is the Emergency Animal Hospital down on Dungarven and Longfellow, and the-"

Kit didn't even wait for the older woman to finish her statement as she promptly hung up and headed off towards the cross-streets that Alice had mentioned, silently fuming under her breath as she made the appropriate turns. The twenty-five-year old woman had absolutely no right to make comments about what she did or didn't do in her spare time. What she did with her life was her business, and her business alone. She didn't need her roommate trying to get her into a relationship on **any** kind… especially considering Alice's horrible taste in men.

"Okay… where's the vet's office?" the brunette muttered slowly as she scanned the street, a slight frown twitching across her lips as she searched for a sign. Just when she was about to say 'screw it' and start driving about aimlessly, the young woman caught sight of the sign for the animal hospital and pulled into the driveway.

Any and all thoughts of getting the dog currently lying in her backseat into the animal hospital flew out the window at light speed when the dog suddenly sat up and started barking at her, acting for all the world like it had **not** just been hit by a car. Kit cursed loudly as she slammed on the brakes for the second time that day, sending the offended dog that had been barking **in her ear** flying up against the back of her seat.

"Jesus Christ!" she growled, silently thanking any and all divine beings that might on the off chance be in the area that she was in a parking lot, before she turned around to glare at the animal that was the cause for her emotional turmoil. "Don't fucking do that to me!"

The collie let out a low growl as it gave her a classic 'F-you' look while scrabbling back up onto the back seat, and Kit stared back at it for a few seconds before she started laughing and slumped back into her seat, running a hand through her bangs as she chuckled with relief.

"Thank god," she sighed as she took the precaution of shifting the gear to 'park' before she allowed herself to relax, a relieved giggle coming out of her as she sat in her seat. "Man, I thought I'd killed you or something for a while there. I would never have forgiven myself if I had."

Even if dogs couldn't give people looks that said 'just exactly **how** stoned are you?', this one definitely managed to as it glared at her from the back seat. Kit finally managed to stop laughing after a few seconds, and turned around to get a better look at her passenger, a slight smile still twitching about her lips. The collie was covered with long golden fur, as well as a white ruff and underbelly, and he somehow managed to look aloof and aristocratic while sitting there glaring at her, even though he was covered from head to toe in dirt and burrs.

However, the thing that caught her attention the most was the dog's eyes. Kit had never seen a dog with violet eyes, especially ones this expressive.

"You have pretty eyes," she commented with a slight laugh as she reached out and gently ruffled the fur on top of the canine's head, giving him cause to let out a low growl. The young woman arched an eyebrow as she slowly pulled her hand away, not wanting to get bitten just in case the dog wasn't as friendly as she had hoped.

"Hey, don't you get pissy at me," she scolded. "I'm not the one who decided to go play in traffic, pup. You're damned lucky that I've got good reflexes, and good brakes."

The growling stopped suddenly, giving the twenty-one-year old a chance to turn around and look over her shoulder at the front entrance to the animal hospital as she absent-mindedly started petting the dog again.

"Well, you're awake now, so that's good," she mused quietly before turning back around to face the collie, who looked far less than enthused to have her petting him. "I should probably take you in just to be sure that nothing's wrong with you though, just in case. I'd feel horrible if I found your owners, and you ended up dying because I was careless… aaand I'm babbling random crap to a dog because I'm so damn freaked out."

Kit let out a sigh as she looked back towards the animal hospital, and then over at her passenger.

"So, how are we going to do this?"

--

Kougaiji was going to pay through the **teeth** for this, of that much Sanzo was sure, even if he had to drag the demon prince down to the gates of Hell himself. If it hadn't been for the prince's little assassin friends, Sanzo was almost certain that he wouldn't be in this little mess.

When he had woken up, the first thing Sanzo had noticed was that he was in the backseat of a strange car, with someone other than Hakkai driving said vehicle. That being said, he automatically jumped straight to his first instinct: ranting and cussing up a storm.

Having the girl let out a curse that would have put a sailor to shame as she slammed on the brakes wasn't what caused the priest to stop yelling, even though hitting the back of her seat at full speed wasn't exactly what he would ever call 'fun'. Rather it was what he heard when he started hurling obscenities at the brown-haired girl that got to him.

It sounded like a dog barking.

Sanzo had immediately pushed away the thought, telling himself that he was hearing things as he scrambled back up onto the seat so he could easily glare at the bitch who had hit him with her truck. The girl didn't even look fazed at his murderous gaze as she started to babble random nonsense before she let out a relieved laugh and slumped down in her seat. After a few moments she seemed to calm down, and she turned back around to face him. Sanzo opened his mouth to demand just what the hell was going on, only to be shocked speechless when the girl reached out and started petting him on the head.

"_I am not a goddamn pet!"_ he snapped angrily as he glared at the girl. _"Don't fucking treat me like one, you little brat! Now tell what the hell is going on before I decide to kick your ass!"_

The girl immediately withdrew her hand as she stared at him in surprise, as well as a little annoyance, before she said something that stunned him to the very core.

"Hey, don't you get pissy at me. I'm not the one who decided to go play in traffic, pup. You're damned lucky that I've got good reflexes, and good brakes."

The priest fell silent as he gaped at the girl, who couldn't have been any older than Goku… well, figuratively at least, as she turned around and looked over her shoulder at the building that she was parked in front of. _What_ had she just called him?!

"_Listen here, you little brat…"_ Sanzo began before he listened to what he actually sounded like, and felt himself go pale when he realized that all that was coming out of his mouth was nothing more than a low, angry growl. _"What in the hell?"_

The man immediately looked up at the rear-view mirror that hung above the girls' head, and almost passed out when he caught sight of his reflection. Instead of reflecting an angry, blonde-haired man, the mirror showed nothing more than a large dog covered in gold and white fur sitting in the back seat.

"_Oh you have __**got**__ to be shitting me,"_ Sanzo whispered as he gawked incredulously at his reflection. The gods must utterly despise him, to pull something like this. Actually, knowing Kannon and her views on the world, she was probably seeing his current situation as nothing more than a highly amusing footnote in his journey west.

He was still staring up his reflection, trying to find a way to disprove what he was seeing, when the girl started petting him again. Sanzo didn't even bother yelling at her, although he did send a very dirty look in her direction before he looked down where his hands should have been, and promptly cursed colorfully when he saw the pair of white paws that was in their place.

Dammit, he needed a cigarette to deal with shit…

Grumbling death threats under his breath due to the deprivation of his precious nicotine, the priest glared daggers over at the girl who was responsible for his misery, silently wishing that he could get his hands on the young woman who was currently fiddling with something up in the front seat. Even if she wasn't the one who had gotten him into this whole mess, she was still the one who had hit him with her car.

"_I hate my life,"_ Sanzo grumbled as he flopped down on the seat, wishing he had his banishing gun with him, and was capable of actually using it.

Unfortunately, he had a feeling that things were going to get worse before they actually got better.

--

Kit stared at what had been the shoulder strap to her laptop case, checking the clip on the loop at the end that she had created to make sure that it would be able to adequately serve as a makeshift collar and leash for the time being.

"Okay, let's do this," she said firmly as she turned around to face her passenger, and was rewarded with Sanzo growling slightly when he spotted the makeshift leash in her hands before he scooted back away from her. The young woman sighed as she rolled her eyes upwards before she darted forward and snagged the dog by the scruff of his neck, slipping the end of the improvised leash over his head before she immediately backed away, not wanting to get bitten for her pains.

"_Bitch,"_ the priest growled as he looked down at the fabric loop now around his neck before glaring at the young woman that was holding the other end of the leash. _"If you even __**think**__ that I'm going to just let you lead me around like some stupid-"_

Any further insults were cut off by Kit opening the front door and tugging experimentally on the crude leash, giving Sanzo the option of either being stubborn and refusing to move… and get choked as a result, or jumping out of the backseat and making a break for it. However, before he could put the most favorable option into play, the brunette suddenly came up to him and held his head between her hands, looking him right in the eyes.

"Listen, I know you probably don't like any of this, but all I want to do is make sure that I didn't hurt you. Please, don't make this any more difficult for me than it already is," she pleaded. "I already feel like the worst person in the world for hitting you."

Kit stared into the 'dog's' eyes for a few seconds before she felt a thrill of fear run down her spine when she caught sight of the intelligence in the animal's gaze. There was something about that look that made her feel as though she had done something wrong, even though she had no idea what. The twenty-one-year old released the canine's head as she looked at him oddly, a slight frown twitching about her lips as she took a step back.

The young woman looked at Sanzo before she shook her head and immediately shoved the thoughts out of her mind; why would a dog be glaring at her anyways?

"C'mon, let's get going before the vet decides that it's time to close up for the night," she said as she turned around and headed towards the front door, tugging gently on the leash so she could encourage her reluctant companion to follow her.

"_And what a tragedy that would be,"_ the priest growled venomously under his breath as he hopped out of the back seat, allowing the young woman to close and lock the car door before she set out for the animal clinic, and trailed after the brunette. Great, out of all the people to have possibly hit him, he had to get the one who was an animal lover.

Sanzo frowned at the thought before he shook his head. Right now he didn't even want to think about how he had ended up in this mess, much less the personal idiosyncrasies of the brat that had picked him up.

First of all he needed to find out where the hell he was, and then he could think about escaping from the girl and undoing whatever kind of spell that moron of a demon had used on him. Once he'd done that, he'd go hunt down Hakkai, the stupid kappa and monkey, and then he could get back to the journey west.

And he'd find a way to violently murder the little S.O.B. who was responsible for this humiliation, even if it killed him.

--

Ummmm… not much to say, except for the fact that this is my first Saiyuki fanfic. I know the first chapter's a little less… action packed than some of my other stories, but it'll get better as it goes on.

Sanzo's probably one of the most entertaining characters in Saiyuki, mainly because he has such a short fuse, and has absolutely no problem in letting most people know what he thinks of them. Not to mention the results of his little arguments when dealing with Gojyo and Goku, combined with his bad temper and twitchy trigger finger, are absolutely hysterical. I must be a horrible person if I like seeing grown men cry like that.

Although, watching Sanzo try and drown Gojyo in a river in episode four by holding his head underwater was pretty funny.

I do own Kit and her roommate Alice, but Sanzo and the others all belong to their respective owners. I'm nothing more than a college student with a hobby.

**Sanzo:** Yeah, a hobby for being a truly spectacular pain in my ass.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** (Sighs and rolls eyes upwards) I'm not even going to go there. Anyways, see you all next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2: Of Vets, Roommates, and Rats

."It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." – Bilbo Baggins, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

**Chapter Two:**

**Of Vets, Roommates, and Rats**

"_You stick that damned thing into me, woman, and I'll kill you!"_ Sanzo snarled as he tried to back away from the approaching vet tech, who looked incredibly nervous at the thought of confronting the irate dog. Kit was probably the only thing still keeping him on the metal examination table, with the help of the vet himself, as the two held the large dog down.

Surprisingly, neither of them had been bitten yet, a fact for which they were both incredibly thankful.

"Miss, how long have you had this animal again?" the vet wheezed as he hooked his arm underneath Sanzo's neck, effectively restraining the priest, before he looked over his shoulder and shouted at the other vet tech watching the scene warily. "Bring me a muzzle and some more sedatives!"

The poor hapless high-school student nodded before he bolted out the door into the back, presumably to fetch the items requested. Although, he could have just been running away from the chaos of the examining room too.

"I kind of hit him on the freeway on my way home from work!" Kit admitted as she grabbed Sanzo and wrapped her hand around his muzzle, holding it shut to prevent the dog from snapping at her, or letting out any more ear-shattering barks. "All I did was knock him out for a while, but I just want to make sure that I didn't hurt him!"

The female vet tech took that opportunity to dart forward and insert the syringe into the vein on the collie's right front leg, injecting the small amount of sedative that was supposed to have been used so that the vet peacefully could examine the animal to make sure there were no internal injuries. Now they were just using the drugs to keep Sanzo from going ballistic on the examining table.

"Got him!" the girl called out as she backed away. Sanzo felt a low, angry growl rumble up from the depths of his chest as he directed his irate gaze onto the vet tech, trying to fight off the effects of the tranquilizer that was already starting to worm its way through his system.

"_I'll kill you all,"_ he threatened as he struggled against the two adults trying to hold him down, although not as violently as he had earlier. Already the tranquilizer was starting to do its dirty work, and within a minute he was sitting dazedly on the examination table, slowly blinking through the thick fog that seemed to envelop his brain. Kit stared at him in surprise before she slowly let go of the massive dog, and was relieved to see him do absolutely nothing.

The vet decided that it was probably best to err on the side of caution, and so maintained his grip on Sanzo's ruff.

"_Damn them."_

It was at that moment that the other vet tech finally chose to come back with the muzzle and additional sedative, and was rewarded with a supremely dirty look from the vet as he took the items from the younger man.

"Next time, James, bring them here a little faster," the vet, Dr. Gibson, muttered as he measured out the appropriate dose for a dog of Sanzo's size, and injected it into the priest's bloodstream. Once the tranquilizers had completely gone into effect, the irate collie merely lay stretched out on the examination table, dozing peacefully, and James the vet tech was able to slip on and fasten the muzzle without being bitten.

"Well now, I can't say **that** wasn't interesting," Dr. Gibson said as he ran a hand through his black hair, looking slightly rattled from his experience. "I've never seen a dog fight back like that before, even an injured one."

"Maybe he's just really freaked out?" Kit suggested offhandedly, and received a wry snort in response as the veterinarian began his examination.

"Yes, well pain and stress do make our bodies do incredible things," the man stated before he looked over his shoulder at the young woman and gave her a somewhat patronizing smile before he sobered up a bit. "However, Miss Fargo, I believe that pain was the major factor for your dog's reaction. After all, animals are the most dangerous when they're either cornered, injured, or protecting their young. You were incredibly lucky that he didn't bite you earlier when you transported him here in your vehicle."

The brunette arched an eyebrow slightly at the man's lofty tone before she let out a sigh and shook her head. She didn't need for some guy to get all preachy on her just because she did what she thought was the right thing. Yes, it had been risky, but nothing bad had happened, so why make a big deal over the past?

Kit stood by the examination table for a few more minutes, watching Dr. Gibson as he examined the massive collie, before she let out a low sigh and sat down on the chair in the corner of the room. The young woman crossed her legs underneath her mid-calf-length denim skirt as she leaned back in the chair, fighting back the urge to start tapping her foot nervously. Waiting had never been one of her strong points, especially after dealing with something that had gotten her all riled up.

'_Damn adrenalin, making me all twitchy,'_ she grumbled softly as she leaned forward and propped her head up with her hand, her elbow resting loosely on the top of her leg. After a few more minutes of watching the vet do his work, the twenty-one-year old sighed as she straightened up in her seat and looked down at her watch, frowning slightly when she saw what time it was.

Kit gave a mental shrug as she decided to wait a little bit longer, tapping her fingers softly against her thigh as she settled back into her chair. She wished that she'd thought to bring her sketchpad with her so she'd at least have something to do while she was waiting. As soon as she had finished that thought, Dr. Gibson turned around and looked at her, a slight smile crossing over his features as he stepped away from the examination table.

"Well, the good news is that the dog appears no worse for the wear from your little accident, just a few cuts and bruises," he stated calmly before his expression sobered up a bit. "However, I was unable to find a microchip in his shoulder like there should have been for a dog like that." At Kit's confused frown, he elaborated on the comment. "You see, that dog looks like he's a purebred, and so most breeders take the precaution of microchipping their dogs when they're still puppies so they can identify them if they're stolen, or if they're being shown."

"Oh," the young woman muttered as she stood up and looked down at the collie, who was still out cold on the examining table. "So, what's going to happen to him?"

"Hmmm… well, unfortunately, judging from the level of aggression that he's shown, I don't think that it would be advisable to keep him here in the clinic, since he would probably get into fights with the other animals. Also, we just simply don't have the room here to house a dog of his size," the vet admitted as he removed his glasses and started cleaning them on his shirt. "I'm afraid that he'll probably get sent to the pound tomorrow morning, and if his owners haven't been found within the next two weeks, he'll be… put to sleep."

"What?!"

"Although, considering how aggressive he is, they might not even wait that long. They'll probably put him down within the next three to five days, rather than wait for an accident to happen," Dr. Gibson stated as he looked down at the slowly stirring dog. Kit felt her heart plummet down into the very pit of her stomach as she glanced over at the collie before she fixed the vet with a serious look.

"So… what if I take him?" she asked, and was rewarded with an incredulous look from the older man.

"Why would you want… a dog like that? He's hardly what I would call the ideal house pet," Dr. Gibson remarked dryly as he arched an eyebrow. "Besides, shouldn't you ask your parents first before making a decision like this, young lady?"

"I'm twenty-one, and I have my own apartment," Kit stated flatly before she flashed a confident grin at the veterinarian. "I think I'll be okay."

Dr. Gibson opened him mouth to reply, only to stop when Sanzo unsteadily struggled to his feet. The vet seemed suddenly to change his mind about what he was going to say, and looked over his shoulder at James, who was waiting nervously by the back door.

"James, why don't you go and get this young lady a leash and a collar for her dog?" he suggested, not wanting to have another round with the patient from hell. "And if you'll wait here for a few minutes, Miss Fargo, I'll be back with your bill."

Kit arched an eyebrow as the two men both vanished into the back area, before she let out a sigh and shook her head, chuckling slightly under her breath as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked over at Sanzo.

"I think you scared them," she said with a laugh as she reached out and undid the muzzle from around his snout, setting it down on the counter behind her before she started to scratch the dog behind the ears. He stared at her blearily for a few moments before he started to lean into the attention, and then promptly stiffened up under her fingers as he realized just what exactly the young woman was doing.

Kit shot the dog an odd look as she gave a wry snort, a slight smile twitching about her lips.

"And what's got you so spooked?"

"_I realized just exactly what the hell you were doing,"_ the priest grumbled as he shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his mind that the tranquilizers had left behind. _"Those bastards are going to pay for pumping that crap into me, if I ever get the chance that is. And besides, there is no way in hell that I'm gonna be some brat's pet."_

Not surprisingly, the young woman didn't even hear a single word of Sanzo's mutterings, giving him cause to let out a loud huff of annoyance as he sat back down on the examining table. Instead, she started petting him again, and this time Sanzo decided that it wasn't worth the aggravation to jerk away from her yet again. The girl thought that he was nothing more than a dumb mutt, and there was nothing he could do at the moment to change that.

"Well, once they get back with the bill and stuff, and I get that all taken care of, I'll get to take you home," Kit said before a large grin crossed her face, and she stuffed her hands in the pockets of her denim jacket as a thoughtful look entered her eyes. "I can't believe that I'm getting my own dog. Now granted, I kind of hit you on the freeway, but still…"

"_Buddha save me,"_ Sanzo groaned as he flopped down onto his stomach and rolled his eyes upwards. _"I'm doomed."_

It was at that moment that Dr. Gibson returned with the vet bill in hand, as well as a cheap fabric collar and leash, both of which he handed to Kit before he cast a cursory glance over at Sanzo, who glared at him darkly in response. The vet swallowed nervously when he caught sight of what he could have sworn was a very human look of loathing in the dog's odd violet eyes; he immediately shoved it off, telling himself that he was just tired.

"You know, Miss Fargo, you don't have to do this," he suggested warily as Kit signed the bill, a slight frown on his face. "It would probably be best if this animal was destroyed, seeing as he's so aggressive. Not to mention the fact that he could very easily hurt you since he's so large."

Sanzo froze at the word 'destroyed', as did Kit, and he noticed the sudden tension coming off of the young woman as her fingers slowly tightened their grip on his fur. The veterinarian continued speaking, completely oblivious to their reactions.

"Actually, if you really want a dog, there are plenty up for adoption at the Humane Society that would probably be better suited for you."

"But I want this one," the twenty-one-year old said seriously, determination flickering in her blue eyes as she stared steadily at Dr. Gibson before she thrust the signed receipt at him. "And anyways, he's actually been really calm since he woke up. I just think that he was stressed out or something from what happened earlier, and now he's had a chance to calm down."

Having said her piece, Kit took the black nylon collar and fastened it around Sanzo's neck with a sharp, precise 'snap', before attaching the leash to the collar. The priest didn't even wait for her to indicate that he needed to get off the table as he hopped off, and then went to patiently wait right at the young woman's side as she opened the door that lead out into the lobby.

If he had to pretend to be a dumb and loyal mutt just to get the hell out of this place, he was more than willing to sacrifice a bit of his pride to do so.

"Ah… Miss Fargo?" Dr. Gibson called out right before they reached the front door, causing Sanzo to curse colorfully as the young woman stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him.

"Yeah?"

"You might want to think about getting him neutered at some point in the future, at least to curtail some of his more aggressive tendencies."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," she said as she headed pushed the front door open, before she muttered under her breath, "On a list if things **not** to do."

"_Neuter me?! I don't fucking think so! I'd like to see you try, you bastard,"_ Sanzo growled angrily. And what aggressive tendencies?! The only thing he had done was try to get the hell out of this stupid place. The priest continued to mutter threats under his breath as Kit finally started walking again when he noticed the vet still watching them, and proceeded to give the man a smug look from over his shoulder as he followed Kit out the front door. The dumbfounded expression on the veterinarian's face was all the payback he needed as he left… well, not all, but it was good enough for the time being.

The two crossed the dimly-lit parking lot to Kit's dark green Silverado, and once she had unlocked the front door, Sanzo immediately jumped up onto the seat and went over onto the passenger seat, where he sat down.

"So, I take it that you're used to riding up front, huh?" Kit said with a chuckle as she got into her own seat and closed the door, hitting the lock button as soon as she did so.

"_You got that one right. And don't think that you can just shove me in the back if you don't like it."_

The young woman let out a shaky sigh as she looked up at the vet's office before she glanced back over at the large dog sitting next to her, a slight grin twitching about her lips.

"Somehow, I don't think we're coming back here," she remarked wryly as she rolled her eyes upwards. "That poor man would probably wet himself if he saw you walk back in that door."

Sanzo gave a derisive snort as he looked out the side window, while the twenty-one-year old fastened her seatbelt before she started up her truck and headed back out onto the main road. As she drove, Kit started fiddling around with her CD player, while the monk-turned-dog sat in the passenger seat and watched the scenery flash by intently. He could tell that he was in a city of some kind, but where he had no clue. He had never seen so many people driving cars before in his life, not to mention all of the shops and restaurants lining the sides of the road.

"Let's see… you'll need a real leash and collar, since those ones are pretty crappy, food, a **brush**, and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get some shampoo since you're pretty dirty," Kit said suddenly, interrupting Sanzo's line of thought, and giving him cause to let out a low growl of irritation as he glared at her out of the corner of his eye.

"_I am __**not**__ dirty!"_ he protested, and scowled when his words came out as nothing more than a sharp bark. He was never going to get used to this. _"Dammit!"_

Kit looked over at him and arched an eyebrow as she paused at a stoplight, and promptly reached over and pulled out a large burr clinging to his front leg before rolling down her window and throwing it outside. The young woman ignored the dirty look that the priest shot at her as she rolled her window back up and returned her attention back to the road in front of her just as the light turned green.

"Yeah, you definitely need a bath," she muttered as she slowly pressed down on the gas, accelerating as she headed towards the next light before she flicked her turn signal on, and headed over into the left turn lane. "But I'll have to do it tomorrow after work, since I'm too damn tired tonight. I'll find an old brush or something and brush you out tonight before I go to bed so I can get rid of all of those damn burrs, but I'll have to take care of the rest tomorrow."

Sanzo just glared at her before he returned his attention back to the window, trying unsuccessfully to place where he was. The sooner he could figure out just what the hell was going on, the sooner he could leave and avoid ending up as some domesticated house pet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm back!" Kit called out as she opened up the front door to her apartment and let Sanzo follow her inside before she closed and locked it behind her. Upon hearing no response, the young woman shrugged as she headed towards her bedroom, going past the small kitchenette and bathroom in the process, before she dumped her laptop bag and sketchbook just inside her door.

"Hey Alice, are you even here?" she asked as she headed back out into the living room, with Sanzo trailing behind her. The young woman cast a glance over at the other bedroom that was on the opposite end of the apartment from hers, and gave a slightly wry sigh when she caught sight of the flashing lights underneath the door, indicating that the occupant was probably watching a movie of some kind. "I guess you are."

Kit hesitated at the other door for a few seconds before she reached out and rapped sharply on the wooden surface. There was a loud groan of annoyance from inside the room as the sounds of someone being horribly maimed were suddenly cut off, and a female voice called out "You can come in."

The twenty-one-year old opened the door and stepped into the room, with Sanzo hesitating for a few seconds before he trailed reluctantly after her, taking great pains to stay behind the young woman. Something about this room gave him the creeps, and that was a hard thing to do.

"Hey, you're back," the blonde woman seated on a bed in front of a small television said offhandedly as she continued to type on her laptop resting awkwardly on her crossed legs. "So, what happened to the mutt that you almost turned into road pizza?"

Kit blanched at the description, and Sanzo felt his hackles rise immediately at the woman's blunt tone, as well as the 'mutt' label. He didn't even know this woman, and already he didn't like her.

"Well… I didn't run him over; I just stunned him," Kit said with a nervous laugh as she gripped the leash she still held in her hands tighter. "But anyway, the vet checked him out, so he's okay, except for a few bumps and bruises, but…"

"But what?"

The young woman hesitated for a few seconds before she responded, and Sanzo could tell that she wasn't entirely comfortable with the situation. On an impulse, he came and sat down right next to her, leaning up against her leg slightly. The tension drained from her body almost immediately as she reached down and slowly started to scratch behind his ears again.

"He doesn't have a collar, tags, a microchip, or anything, and the vet said that if nobody came in to claim him within the next three days… they'd put him to sleep. So I kind of brought him home with me…"

It was at that point that Alice actually bothered to turn around and face her roommate, and jumped when she caught sight of the dog sitting next to the other woman. She was wearing mostly black clothing, and she had on an obscene amount of black eyeliner on, as well as a black choker with some sort of charm hanging from it.

"Holy shit!" she yelped as she shoved the laptop off of her lap and onto the bed. "Oh no, you are **not** bringing a dog in here. There is no way that thing's staying here!"

"_Oi, I am not a __**thing**__,"_ Sanzo grumbled in protest as he fixed the blonde with a piercing glare. _"And I'm right here."_

"You have a rat. Why can't I have a dog?" Kit pointed out quietly as she indicated over at a large metal cage that lay just a few feet away from the door. The priest cast a glance over at the cage and wrinkled his nose in distaste when he caught sight of what looked like an oversized black bean that squeaked and had whiskers inside. If that thing was a rat, then it was the ugliest damn rat he had ever seen.

"One: Blair isn't a rat, he's a guinea pig. Two: That… gigantic _thing_ might eat Blair, and that's not gonna happen," Alice said with a scowl as she stood up and stalked over towards Kit, her green eyes narrowed slightly, before a triumphant smirk crossed her face as she leaned forward into the other woman's face and planted her hands on her hips. "Three: I'm older than you, so you have to listen to what I say."

Sanzo was barely able to bite back the low growl that almost rumbled up from his throat as he glared daggers at the woman. Something about her just rubbed him the wrong way… oh how he wished for his banishing gun; the bitch would shut up pretty fast if he had that out and aimed at her. The priest smirked inwardly at the thought before he looked up at one of the many posters adorning the walls of Alice's room, and immediately froze at the sight.

There was no way…

"Four: I pay more than half the rent, **and** the apartment allows dogs," Kit shot back as she took a step backwards to distance herself from Alice's sudden invasion of her space. "Five: I don't even think that he'd want to put that obese lima bean of a rat in his mouth, much less his stomach. Six: You're not my mom, and you're not my sister, so you don't have any right to tell me what I can and can't do. End of discussion."

"No, not end of discussion," Alice snapped as she straightened up, her mouth twisting into a scowl. "I live here too, so I have a say in what the hell's going on!"

"All I did was get a dog! You keep complaining about how I need a pet or something!"

"No, you brought back some obscenity to the canine kingdom that will devour my guinea pig as soon as it looks at him! When I suggested you getting a dog, I was talking about one of those cute little Yorkies or a poodle… something you could carry around in a purse. Not this… this **thing** that looks like its part horse!"

"Alice, he's a collie; they're supposed to be kind of big," Kit stated shortly as she ran a hand through her bangs before a frown crossed her face. "Besides, you suggested the kinds of dogs that **you** would like, so you could buy those stupid little sweaters and put them on the dogs while **you** waltz around the campus looking like Paris freaking Hilton with that poor dog hanging out of the purse. Sorry, not gonna happen."

Sanzo glanced over his shoulder at Alice in disgust before he returned to glaring at the poster that had gotten his attention. It was of him, Hakkai, Goku, and Gojyo all standing up on the steps of some temple, and he was trying to figure out just how in the hell the woman, who he was now quite certain was insane, got a hold of something like this. There was also another poster not too far away from it that showed him using the Maten Sutra, with some writing printed below the picture that he couldn't quite make out.

The rest of the posters in Alice's room seemed to be dedicated to various horror movies, as well as a few more posters with different anime on them thrown into the mix.

"_I can't believe this,"_ he groused as he glowered at the two posters in particular, fighting the urge to take a snap at the gothic blonde currently berating Kit. _"They've started selling fucking __**merchandise**__ of us. And this… nitwit has them. It has to be official now; I've died and gone to hell."_

Just as the priest was about to continue venting along this vein, he was snapped out of his one-sided complaining by Alice's indignant shriek of "You wouldn't dare!!"

"_Merciful Goddess, woman! Could you have said that any louder?!"_ Sanzo snarled as he felt his ears flatten instinctively against his skull to protect them from the high-pitched sound, only to have the blonde suddenly lash out and slap him right on the snout. The priest-turned dog couldn't help himself; he let out a yelp of pain before he suddenly started sneezing. It took everything he had not to start pawing unsuccessfully at his nose in an attempt to ease the stinging pain.

"Don't you growl at me!" Alice snapped as she glared at the dog, only to have Kit suddenly step in front of her, her blue eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Alice, don't you **ever** do that again," she stated coldly. "I'm keeping him, and that's final. If you don't like it, then you can move out."

"But-"

"Look, I'm tired of you dictating what I can and can't do just because you're four years older than me. You're still in college, while I actually have a job, and whether or not I want to have a dog is not really any of your damn business. End of discussion."

At that final statement, Kit turned around and stalked out of the room, her entire frame rigid from anger as Sanzo trailed after her, not wanting to fight against the leash. Any and all thoughts of him attempting to retain at least some dignity had been thrown out the window the moment he had yelped; the gods must enjoy making his life a living hell.

The moment Kit entered her room and closed the door behind her, she collapsed against the wall and slid down to the floor, her eyes wide and her face devoid of any natural color.

"I can't believe I just did that," she whispered shakily before she let out a frustrated groan and let her head rest against the wall. "What the hell was I thinking, doing something like that? I should have just kept you in my room and waited until like a week later or something before I told her I got a dog…"

Sanzo stared at the young woman curiously as he approached her slowly, wondering just what exactly she was talking about. Kit fell silent as she watched him before she reached out and removed the leash, leaving the collar still fastened around his neck.

"Alice is such a hypocrite," the twenty-one-year old finally said as she slowly began to wrap the leash around her hand, a worried frown crossing her face as she stared intently at her hands. "She keeps telling me that I need to have a pet or something, but whenever I actually take her up on that advice, she goes ballistic. Last year, when I got a hamster, I ended up having to give it to one of my cousins because she threatened to throw it out in the alley. Apparently it made too much noise with its wheel at night or something like that. But, if I don't do something how **she** wants it, then that automatically gives her the right to try and boss me around so she can get what she wants."

Kit stared at Sanzo for a few seconds before she reached out and started petting him again, forcing out a slight chuckle as she did so.

"Well, Sarah always did say that she was insane," she quipped as she shook her head. "At least when she was here, she could keep Alice in line and tell her when to get over herself. I knew I should have taken her up on her offer to bunk with her over the summer until I could find my own apartment. But no, I had to be stupid and show that I could cope with the psychotic pain in the ass until the end of the year."

"_And why would anyone willingly share space with that colossal waste of oxygen?"_ Sanzo wondered as he cast a precautionary glance over at the door, his hackles automatically rising at the thought of how the gothic woman had treated him. Maybe he **should** eat her guinea pig just to spite her… or at least dispose of the creature properly, like toss it out into the closest trash can. Just remembering the stench wafting from the cage made his eyes water, so it would definitely be an improvement if he removed the source of the smell.

"I am such an idiot sometimes," Kit muttered as she pulled her scrunchie out of her hair, letting the somewhat long brown strands tumble loosely across her back, before she ran a hand through her hair. "But you know what? It's over and done with now, so worrying about it isn't going to help things. What's done is done and all that rot."

With that statement, the young woman slowly got to her feet and stretched, arching her back slightly as she held her arms stiffly up over her head, before her back popped, and she let out a slight noise of satisfaction before she dropped the pose. Now feeling somewhat less stressed, Kit kicked off her shoes and left them by her bed as she grabbed her pajamas off of the chair by her desk where they had been tossed that morning. Humming a jaunty tune under her breath, she left the room and headed into the bathroom next door, looking forward to a nice, hot shower.

"_Talk about a complete emotional about-face,"_ Sanzo muttered dryly as he stared at the door to the bedroom, silently wondering if the woman was PMSing. _"Wonderful, I'm a mutt, no one understands what the hell I'm saying, and now I'm stuck in some hellhole with two insane women. The gods must really hate me to pull this kind of crap."_

With a loud sigh, the priest flopped down on the floor with his paws crossed in front of him, leaning slightly up against the foot of Kit's bed in the process. There was no way that he'd ever admit it, but right now he was exhausted. Between getting hit with a truck by an incompetent young woman, and getting sedated by the vet, he was completely wiped out.

A low growl of annoyance rumbled from his throat as a lone thought struck him, and he glared daggers at nothing in particular as he fought the urge to let out an impressive stream of curses. Without hands, he couldn't smoke his cigarettes.

Ever.

The priest-turned-dog muttered several incredibly violent threats under his breath as he glowered at the innocent wall in front of him. If looks could kill, then this one would be committing mass genocide at the moment.

Sanzo didn't even notice that he had lifted his lips slightly, baring his teeth as he let out a low growl of anger that slowly rose in volume as he mentally repeated what was quickly becoming his mantra in regards to this entire fiasco; he was going to **kill** whoever had done this to him, and to hell with the consequences.

Once the man had finished ranting over the unfairness of the universe, he slowly got to his feet, silently cursing his lack of ability for bipedal movement, before he started to explore Kit's room. He wasn't able to get into any of the metal filing drawers on the desk, which looked like a miniature cubicle, complete with the fabric-covered walls on all sides that were almost completely covered with papers. The surface of the desk itself looked as though a gigantic paper bomb had exploded on it, varying from character sketches to junk mail, to bills, with a few cards and letters thrown into the mix for a bit of color as well.

"_Hmph, her desk looks worse than mine did after that time Goku decided to 'help' clean it,"_ Sanzo muttered dryly as he padded over to the desk and managed to get up on his back paws, his front paws resting on the top surface as he looked around at the colossal mess scattered across the desk. The only really paper-free spots was a space right in front of the swivel chair that was just the right size for a laptop, and underneath the shelf that held a stereo in the corner of the mini-cubicle, although there were a couple sizeable stacks of CDs occupying the space underneath the metal shelf, as well as a few books and knickknacks.

Just when the priest was about to try and get a better look at the junk covering the desk, he heard the sound of the bathroom door opening and someone approaching the room. Growling a cruse underneath his breath, Sanzo dropped back down on all fours before the bedroom door opened, and Kit walked in with her now-wet hair hanging limply about her shoulders, and clad in a black and gold Colorado Buffalo's football jersey and long black flannel pants with a gold stripe down the sides of the legs as pajamas.

The young woman didn't even glance over in his direction as she went over to her closet and opened it before unceremoniously dumping her dirty clothes into the hamper inside. Sanzo caught sight of what looked like some form of bulky armor piled up next to the clothes hamper before Kit closed her closet door and glanced over her shoulder at him before a slight frown crossed her face.

"Crap, I don't have any dog food," she groaned as she raked a hand through her damp bangs. "Oh well, I guess that I'll just have to give you whatever I'm eating too. At least for tonight… and I'll add dog food on the list of stuff that I'll need to get tomorrow."

Sanzo blinked in surprise before he smirked at the information. At least for today he wouldn't be forced to eat mutt chow, although he'd make sure that whatever crap Kit purchased for him to eat would 'disappear' the moment it arrived. Silently plotting the demise of the currently non-existent kibble, he padded out into the living room and kitchenette after Kit, arching an eyebrow slightly when she opened up the refrigerator and pulled out a large container of some sort of soup.

The young woman didn't pay any attention to the monk's intense stare as she pulled two large ceramic bowls out from one of the cupboards and set them down on the counter next to the tub of soup before she opened a drawer and removed a ladle from it before she started ladling soup into both bowls. Having finished this task, she crouched down in front of one of the cupboards by the sink and grabbed a box from one of the shelves before she straightened up and pulled out a sheet of thin, see-through plastic from the box before she ripped it off at a certain length and placed it over the top of one of the bowls of soup.

"_What in the…? What the hell is that?"_ Sanzo wondered as he stared in confusion at the saran wrap that Kit was using as she repeated the process with the other bowl. His bewilderment only increased further when she opened up the microwave and popped both covered bowls into the device before closing the door and pushing a couple buttons. All of the fur along his back stood straight up when the microwave lit up, and made a low humming noise as the bowls inside started to rotate slowly around in a circle.

Kit noticed his unease when she turned around to look at the dog, and a slight smile crossed her face when she saw him giving the microwave a death glare.

"So you don't like the microwave, huh?" she asked before she started snickering, giving the priest cause to let loose a low growl of irritation, which only made her laugh harder. "Don't worry, it's not gonna bite you or anything."

"_No, but I might bite you if you don't stop laughing,"_ Sanzo grumbled venomously as he forced himself to relax, not wanting to give the young woman further excuses for entertainment at his own expense. _"Stupid brat_."

The monk's dignity took another hit when the microwave let out a loud beep once it was done, and he automatically growled and whirled around to face the device, hackles raised and teeth bared. Kit blinked at his display before she burst out laughing, leaning back against the counter as she held her stomach with one hand, tears streaming from her eyes as she tried to stop laughing.

"Oh my god, I got a dog that's a technophobe!" she snickered, much to Sanzo's chagrin. The priest muttered a curse under his breath as he stalked out of the kitchen, wishing vehemently that he had had his fan, and was more than capable of using it. That brat out in the kitchen would have had the migraine of the century, and the lump to prove it!

Kit sobered up immediately when she saw how the dog reacted to her laughter, and a slight frown crossed her face as she looked over at where the kitchenette connected with the living room. It was almost as though he knew that she was laughing at him… and not to mention the evil glares that he seemed to be able to give at a moment's notice.

'_Okay, I am thinking __**way**__ too much into this,'_ she realized as she shook her head, trying to dispel the thoughts. _'Dog's don't glare, and they can't understand you babbling random crap to them when you're just trying to fill the silence. I'm starting to sound like Alice, forgetting where fantasy ends and reality begins… and if that's not a chilling realization, then I don't know what is.'_

The young woman indulged in a slight shudder at the thought before she turned around and reached out to remove one of the bowls from the microwave. Unfortunately, she had forgotten that ceramic heats up faster than soup.

"Shit!" she yelped as she jerked her hand back and started blowing on her scorched fingers in an attempt to cool them down. "Dammit, that's hot!!"

Kit scowled at the bowls before she heard a low snorting sound coming from behind her. The twenty-one-year old turned around and saw Sanzo sitting behind her, with what looked suspiciously like a smirk planted firmly on his muzzle as he let out a huffing sound that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"Hey, you're laughing at me, aren't you?!" she accused indignantly, and was rewarded with the laughing sound stopping as the priest's smirk widened.

"_No, you think?"_ the 'dog' drawled sarcastically as he got up and padded over to the young woman before he gave her a no-nonsense look. _"Now stop babbling and just give me the food, woman."_

"…why are you talking to the mutt?"

Kit jerked noticeably as she looked over at the part where the kitchenette area connected with the living room, and stared incredulously over at Alice, who had emerged from the emo cave the she had dubbed her room, before she had the decency to look sheepish.

"Umm… heh heh… no reason…" she stammered lamely, giving the older woman an 'I'm completely innocent and have no clue what you're talking about' smile that would have made even Hakkai envious. "Long day and all… you know what I mean…"

"Yeah, that you've gone absolutely bonkers," the blonde stated simply as she brushed past Kit and Sanzo, before seizing one of the bowls of hot soup, snatching a roll from the bag on the counter, and grabbing a spoon from one of the drawers, before she headed back into her room. "Thanks for heating up some soup for me."

Kit stood there with her mouth hanging open before she shook her head and muttered a curse under her breath, immediately dropping all pretenses of the innocent and naive façade that she had been showing earlier. "Dammit, I **hate** it when she does that."

Before Sanzo could throw in his own opinion on the matter, he suddenly had a bowl of hot soup placed down on the floor in front of him, the plastic wrap covering the top already removed and being crushed into a compact ball by an annoyed twenty-one-year old as she approached the trash can with what appeared to be deadly intent.

"I'll just make myself another one," she muttered with a sigh. "You probably need the food more than I do right now anyways, since you've been running around loose for who knows how long."

The Sanzo priest blinked in surprise as he watched the young woman return to the counter and make herself another bowl of soup to replace the one her roommate had stolen. This girl was… strange. There was no other way around it. She was just strange, and he had only been around her for a little longer than two hours.

If Hakkai, Gojyo, or Goku were here with him, things would only be worse. As it was, he was already certain that he'd be hard-pressed to live down the humiliation for his current situation.

"_The gods must be laughing at me right now,"_ he grumbled as he looked at the soup speculatively. It was some kind of bean soup, with vegetables, and quite a bit of sausage thrown into the mix as well. Sanzo wrinkled his nose slightly before he took a tentative sniff at the food, scowling mentally at the fact that he was practically forced to adopt all of these stupid canine behaviors just to function in a somewhat reasonable manner.

"_I don't want to be a damn dog,"_ he growled as he glared daggers down at the soup. Unfortunately, he also knew that he had absolutely no control over the matter. With that thought in mind, Sanzo started eating the soup that Kit had given him, not liking where his silent musings were taking him.

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"Hold still, dammit!!"

"_Over my dead body, bitch!!"_

"Stupid dog, just **stoppitt**!"

"_Stop yanking on my fur, wench!!!"_

"OUCH!! Those nails fucking **hurt**!!"

Sanzo let out a wordless snarl as he tried to find a way to bolt out from where Kit had cornered him by the toilet, brandishing an old plastic brush. So far, her first attempts at brushing out the snarls and burrs that covered the 'dog' had been met with minimal success, and a good deal of exertion on her part.

Ah, nothing says fun like locking yourself in the bathroom while trying to brush an uncooperative dog and getting scratched up in the process. Especially when said dog weighs at least as much as you do.

Kit shot the collie a dirty look before she flopped down next to the tub and leaned back against it, frowning slightly as she and Sanzo got into a staring contest from their respective corners.

"You… you are a pain in the ass," the young woman said seriously as she pointed the brush meaningfully at the canine, although the slight twitch of her lips indicated that she also found the situation to be somewhat humorous. Sanzo responded with a death glare as he backed up further into the corner by the toilet, silently wishing that he had hands so he could at least open the damn door and make a break for it. Then again, if he were still human, he wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

"_So are you."_

The young woman let out a long sigh as she relaxed slightly against the tub, seemingly exhausted, before she suddenly lunged forward and tackled Sanzo, pressing herself down on top of him in an attempt to pin him to the tile floor.

"Just. Hold. STILL!!" she bit out as she struggled to get a grip on the collie, and then promptly yelped out a curse when she accidentally smacked her head against the wall.

"_Get off of me, bitch!!"_

Kit swore colorfully as she finally managed to wrap her hand around the canine's snout, cutting off the deafening barks, before she untangled herself from the awkward position that she had to adopt in order to restrain the struggling dog, and started yanking the brush through the dirty tangles of fur covering Sanzo.

"Now just hold still, and I'll be done faster than if you keep fucking fighting me," Kit growled warningly before she switched her hold to the scruff of his neck, effectively restraining the now-thoroughly pissed-off priest as she started to brush the burrs and tangles from his coat. "I swear, for a big dog you are such a damn baby."

"_I am not!"_ Sanzo snarled as he scrabbled uselessly against the young woman's unyielding grip, his clawed feet unable to gain any form of traction on the tiled floor. _"Let go of me, or I'll kill you, you little-!"_

Unfortunately, whatever the priest was about to say next was cut off by a sudden indignant yelp as Kit started brushing his tail, and accidentally yanked out a large chunk of matted fur in the process. For the next few minutes Sanzo was rendered incapable of saying anything other than a long, relentless stream of profanities and death threats as Kit finished brushing him, completely oblivious to just how badly she was being insulted.

Once the young woman finally let him go, and opened up the bathroom door, the monk-turned-dog bolted out of the small room and went out into the living room, growling threats the entire way as he left Kit behind to clean up the mess of discarded fur all over the floor. Sanzo didn't even hesitate as he jumped up on the couch and curled up into a ball in the corner farthest away from the hallway where the bathroom was, glaring daggers at the opening just on the off chance that the young woman that was currently the source of his ire would come out after him.

There was no way in hell that he was budging from this spot, no matter who tried to remove him.

"Hey, what the-? Get the hell off the couch, you stupid mutt!!"

Then again, maybe not.

Sanzo leveled a murderous glare up at Alice as he felt a growl automatically rise up in the back of his throat, while the woman's eyes narrowed as she stood there by the couch with a large bowl of popcorn and a DVD case in her hands.

"_Make me, bitch."_

"Kit, get your fucking mutt out of the living room, and off the couch," Alice shouted out unnecessarily as she set the bowl and the DVD down on the end table by the sofa before picking up a pillow and brandishing it at Sanzo. "Move it, now fur-face."

"_Try it and die,"_ the priest growled as he eyeballed the pillow venomously. _"I know where you sleep, woman, and I will kill you in your sleep if you even __**think**__ about hitting me with that thing."_

Apparently Alice didn't like his stubborn refusal to move, because she promptly threw the pillow at the priest, and it was only by the fact that he jumped off of the couch the second he saw the woman get ready to throw the pillow that he avoided getting creamed in the face with the surprisingly heavy object. The gothic woman scowled at the dog before she plopped down in the very spot that he had just vacated and started glaring at him just as Kit entered the room, a somewhat bemused look on her face.

"You rang?" she asked dryly, arching a dark eyebrow as she brushed several strands of her dark brown hair out of her face. Alice scowled as she turned around in her seat to face the younger woman, her green eyes narrowing as she adopted a disgusted expression and jabbed a finger over accusingly at Sanzo.

"Keep that stupid **thing** off of the furniture," she hissed, making the word 'thing' sound like the vilest of profanities, and completely missing the 'screw you' look that Sanzo sent her way before he stalked off down the hallway towards Kit's room. Right now it looked like it was the only place that he would actually get some alone time so he could think things out, and it was probably a hell of a lot more quiet in there than it was going to be out in the living room. Not to mention the fact that there was probably a far less toxic level of stupidity in there was as well.

It didn't take a genius to tell that Alice was deliberately looking to cause trouble where he was involved. Hell, he hadn't even been here that long and already he was having problems with the woman.

"_Bitch,"_ he growled darkly as he nudged the door open and entered the darkened room. Without even thinking out it, Sanzo jumped up onto the bed and flopped down on top of the navy comforter covering the sheets, letting out an irritated sigh as he did so.

Right now, all he wanted to do was sleep. Maybe once he did, things would be less deranged, and he'd find out that this whole thing was nothing more than a dream, or a byproduct of too much alcohol consumed in a small space of time.

With that thought, the Sanzo priest sighed again and closed his eyes, silently willing for slumber to take him.

And heaven help anyone foolish enough to disturb his rest.

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Well, here's the second chapter, and now things are starting to get kicked up a notch. Sorry for how long it took me to get this written, but school's been keeping me busy, so it slows down a lot of my stuff.

Yay, and today's Halloween too! So Happy Halloween to all of my reviewers, and thanks for reviewing!! I hope you all get tons of sugar!

**Reviews:**

Gothic Anime Fairy: Yeah, he is because he's so grouchy… and he's fun to torture, even if one does risk getting shot at for doing something like this. By the way, what is the 10th Kingdom? I don't think that I've heard of it… although it does sound kind of familiar.

Khait Khepri: I'm glad that you like my 'pissy Sanzo collie'. Don't worry though, things are only going to get more insane, and twisted, as time goes on. Heh heh… I torture my characters. Anyways, I like both the anime and the manga, because there's some stuff in the anime that just seems to appeal to me, especially some of the zingers. But hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Patriot16: Sounds good to me. And yes, college students with twitchy writer's fingers rock… I should know since most of my friends all like to do the same thing.

Arugula Pacioli: Thanks. I'm glad that you like it.


	3. Chapter 3: Getting Settled

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." – Bilbo Baggins, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

**Chapter Three:**

**Getting Settled**

Kit let out a weary sigh as she walked back towards her room and shut the door behind her, muttering a quiet curse under her breath as she slumped against the solid wood behind her. Why did Alice always have to make a friggin' mountain out of a molehill?

"Good grief, you would think that he'd eaten Blair the way she was carrying on. The dog was sitting on the couch; big freaking deal," the young woman groaned before she straightened up, shaking her head at the immaturity of her roommate. If things kept going the way they were, she'd definitely start looking into getting a different apartment… with **no** roommates.

"Me moving out of this hole is long overdue anyways," Kit muttered thoughtfully before she shook her head. "I should have moved out along with Sarah once we graduated in May. At least then I wouldn't have to deal with waking up at one a.m. because of screaming coming from the living room. I need to think about it some more, but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to start looking around for a new apartment or something sometime in the near future."

With that thought, the twenty-one-year old pushed herself away from the door and headed over towards her bed, only to stop and grin slightly when she caught sight of the slumbering ball of gold and white fur curled up in the middle of her bed. Kit chuckled softly at the sight as she switched on her bedside lamp and sat down on top of the bed, her legs dangling over the side, before she started petting the massive collie.

"You're one funny dog," she muttered in amusement as she began to scratch the canine behind the ears in the spot that, if she remembered correctly, would have had her old dog Shadow melting into a giant puddle of doggy ecstasy. However, instead, a pair of purple eyes opened up and stared at her blearily, a look of slight annoyance at being woken up in them. However, Kit noticed that the dog didn't move away from her hand as he stared up at her, so she continued to scratch him behind his ears.

"Man, you haven't even been here for a day yet, and you're already acting like you belong here," the woman said with a grin before her smile widened even further as a thought hit her. "'If you want the best seat in the house, move the dog.'"

Sanzo arched an eyebrow slightly at that, but he didn't even budge from his spot as he watched the young woman drowsily. He was dead tired, and the experienced fingers scratching the back of his ears just felt so good…

The moment that thought crossed his mind, the priest immediately jerked back out from under Kit's hand, a slight thrill of panic running through him as he was roughly yanked into a more alert state of awareness. Just what the hell had he been thinking?! He wasn't a house pet!

"_Don't do that again,"_ he growled out darkly, although the words, as usual, came out as nothing more than an annoyed woof. Kit laughed slightly as she reached out and ruffled the fur on Sanzo's head, before she let out a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Okay, I'm gonna take that as a sign for me to get my ass to bed," she muttered before she started pushing lightly at Sanzo's side, trying to get the collie to move over a bit. "Scoot over, bed thief. Despite what you may think, this isn't your bed. I'll share, but only if you move over and let me sleep in peace."

"_And what makes you think that I'll move?"_ Sanzo asked dryly as he stubbornly refused to budge. Kit arched an eyebrow at his blatant refusal before she shrugged and pulled her covers back a bit, sliding underneath the sheets into a somewhat cramped position. Once she had accomplished that, she started worming her feet underneath the dog's bulk. Sanzo shot her a dirty look as he stood up and moved over before flopping down next the young woman's legs, unnerved by the feeling of something alive and moving wriggling underneath him.

"_That was a dirty trick,"_ he grumbled as he stared at Kit, who gave a crooked grin in response, completely unbothered by the priest's patented 'Glare 'o Doom'.

"Goodnight big guy, I'll see you in the morning," the brunette said as she reached out and petted the dog on the head before switching off the lamp on her bedside table. Having said her piece, Kit snuggled down underneath her covers, and soon her breathing evened out, signaling that the young woman had fallen asleep.

Sanzo sat up as he looked over at the woman that he was currently sitting next to, a frown crossing his face as he did so. Just how was he going to get out of this situation? He was stuck in some town, although it was more likely a city, that he had no idea whatsoever where it was, he was currently trapped in a dog's body, with no means of actually communicating, and he had no idea where to find Hakkai, Gojyo, and Goku.

Not that not knowing was going to stop him. He'd find those three idiots, even if it killed him, and he seriously doubted that Kanzeon Bosatsu was just going to let him off the hook for her little quest like that. Sooner or later, the meddling old bat was going to show up and tell him to get his ass in gear, and when she did, he'd be giving her a piece of his mind.

However, his first order of business was to find a solution to his furry problem, and then he could worry about locating Goku and the others. There was no way in hell that he'd be able to effectively convince those three idiots that it was him, and not just some stupid mutt, at least not without some form of divine intervention. Not to mention the fact that they would never let him hear the end of it if they knew that he had somehow gotten turned into a dog, threats of extreme physical violence aside.

"_There is no way in hell that I'm going to let those morons know this happened to me,"_ Sanzo vowed as he stared intently out into the darkness. _"Knowing my luck, they'll probably die laughing, and I'll have to finish this damn quest all by myself."_

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When Sanzo was roughly jerked out of the realm of sleep the next morning, it wasn't to the usual chaos of Goku and Gojyo fighting, or Hakkai trying to get them to shut up before he pulled out his gun and shot them all just so he could get a few more minutes of rest. No, instead, he was woken up by a loud, annoying blaring sound emanating from the alarm clock on Kit's bedside table, followed by a loud curse as said woman was also yanked from her slumber before she reached up and slammed her fist down on top of the clock, effectively shutting it off.

Then, with a sleepy groan, as well as yet another curse, although it was muttered this time, Kit let her head fall back onto the pillow, slipping back into the dark realm of sleep. Sanzo stared incredulously at the blanketed form before a low, indignant growl rose up in his throat as he glared daggers at the young woman.

Without even thinking about it, he let out a sharp bark, causing Kit to yelp out a curse as she was rudely jerked awake, and tried to twist around, only to fall out of bed with a loud 'thump'. Even more cursing ensued as the twenty-one-year old attempted to untangle herself from the sheets wrapped around her legs and torso, while Sanzo watched the scene before him with detached interest.

"_If you're going to wake me up at this ungodly hour, then you're getting up too,"_ he stated simply, although he couldn't help the slight feeling of smug satisfaction at watching Kit flail about on the floor, cursing up a storm. In his mind, this was payback for being brushed the night before.

Suddenly, the vehement cursing ground to a halt, and a hand shot up in the air before slapping down on the sheets and gripping them firmly in a manner oddly reminiscent of a zombie horror film. Sanzo arched an eyebrow and took a precautionary step back as Kit's head emerged from the other side of the bed, her blue eyes narrowed into what could only be described as a deranged glare.

"You, dog, are the **devil**," she hissed, not noticing that she had a bad case of bed-head that, in Sanzo's opinion, made her look even scarier. "I think I should call you Satan."

"_Somehow, I have the feeling that name's an insult, and no, you're not calling me that,"_ the priest snorted as he eyed the young woman disdainfully, watching her through hooded eyes as she got to her feet and shot him a dirty look that could have put Gyumaoh's entire army in the ground. Suddenly, he was immensely thankful that Kit couldn't hear what he was saying. Even he didn't want to face a hormonal woman's wrath, nor was he stupid enough to even attempt such a feat without a gun, and a very **very** large stockpile of bullets.

He'd be more than happy to leave such acts of stupidity to Gojyo.

Kit frowned as she straightened up and ran a hand through her sleep-mussed hair, her eyes at half-mast as she stumbled over to her closet and slid the doors open. Letting loose a jaw-cracking yawn, the young woman pulled out a silvery green blouse with large sleeves, and a long fawn-colored skirt with winding vines embroidered all along the bottom quarter of the skirt. Sanzo, who had flopped down on the bed in an attempt to go back to sleep, didn't realize just what Kit was about to do, at least until she pulled out a white chemise from one of her dresser drawers and tossed it down on her bed.

The man looked down at the white undergarment lying right in front of his paws, his mind trying desperately to compute just exactly what he was seeing, before he noticed Kit grab the bottom of her nightshirt and start to pull it up.

"_Oh hell no!"_ Sanzo growled as he jumped off of the bed and damn near stuffed his head under the bed, but instead opted for the more mature option of lying flat on the ground and clenching his eyes shut. There was no way in hell that he wanted to be classified as a pervert just because he couldn't open the door and get out of the room while Kit was getting dressed. He was not Gojyo, who would probably be drooling and calling out encouragement if he were the one in this asinine situation.

The priest waited until the sound of rustling fabric stopped, and cautiously slid an eye open to check that the coast was clear. Instead, he was treated to the sight of Kit hopping about on one foot as she tried to slide her brown leather flats on with one hand and pull her shirt on over her head with the other, cursing darkly as she did so.

"I swear, if I ever get my hands on the dumbass who invented stocking, I'm gonna string them up from the highest tree I can find with their own intestines," the woman growled as she managed to slip on both of her shoes without falling flat on her face before she set about straightening her shirt. "Stupid jerks, deciding that the epitome of female fashion is to have glorified silky socks that slide down to your ankles every ten seconds. How the hell are we supposed to walk around at work if we have to keep pulling the damn things up?"

Sanzo watched as Kit snatched her hairbrush up from her desk and quickly ran it through her hair, brushing out any traces of bed-head, before she tossed her brush down on the bed and grabbed a dark green scrunchie from her nightstand. With a few quick deft movements, the young woman's longish brown hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that just barely brushed the top of her shoulders. Having accomplished this task, Kit snatched up her laptop bag from where she had deposited it the night before, and bolted out into the kitchen.

"…" Sanzo blinked a few times in surprise as he stared at the empty doorway. He didn't know that anyone could get dressed and ready that fast, much less a woman. Weren't they the ones who always took the longest to pick out something wear, take a shower, ect?

Not that he'd actually know from experience, of course.

The sound of the toaster dinging out in the kitchen caught his attention, and the monk-turned-dog heaved a loud sigh as he padded out of Kit's room and into the living room. It was about then that he realized that he was hungry… and Kit made the fatal mistake of leaving her straight-from-the-toaster hash browns on the table as she pulled out a carton of orange juice from the fridge.

Without even thinking about it, Sanzo darted forward and put his front paws on the chair, snatched one of the coveted hash browns from the young woman's unattended plate, and deposited it on the tiled floor before he began to bolt it down.

"What the… hey!" Kit yelped as she turned around, and saw the theft of part of her breakfast. "Why you… you little bandit. That was mine!"

Sanzo jerked involuntarily as he realized just what he did… again, and let out a low, frustrated growl as he finished the last fragments of the hash brown. What was wrong with him? He was acting like… a dog…

"_This is idiotic! I haven't even been like this for a full day, and already I'm acting like some stupid mutt!"_ he realized, and shuddered at the thought. _"If I don't pull myself together, and fast, I'll be fetching newspapers and rolling over to get a belly rub by the end of the week!"_

Kit frowned slightly before she heaved a long sigh and pulled out a slice of bread from the bag on the counter, a wry smile twitching about her lips as she held the piece of bread out to the dog.

"Here. I should have remembered that I've got someone other than myself to take care of now," she said with a slight chuckle. "That was my fault. I guess I've gotten so used to fending for myself that I've forgotten what it's like to have someone counting on you to do your share."

Sanzo hesitated for a few seconds before he let out an annoyed huff and gently took the slice of bread from the woman's hand. Kit grinned at the action before she suddenly crouched down and wrapped her arms around Sanzo's neck, pulling the startled dog into a close embrace.

"_What the hell?!"_

"I hope that you really are just some stray," Kit whispered softly before she pulled away, a far-off look in her blue eyes. "It's nice to not be so alone, even if it only is for a little while, but I don't think that I could bear the guilt of taking you away from a family that loved you. Heh, knowing my luck, you probably belong to some kid who's bawling his eyes out right now because his dog's missing."

"_Huh?"_ the priest muttered as he shot the brunette a confused look, arching an eyebrow slightly. However, the serious mood was soon shattered when Kit suddenly adopted a goofy smile and laughed slightly as she stood up, brushing off some stray dog hairs that clung to her clothing as she did so.

"Well, that, and the fact that I haven't had a dog in a while too," she admitted with a grin. "If Shadow were here, she'd probably boss you around like nobody's business… but she hasn't been around to do that for quite some time."

Sanzo watched Kit intently as she went over to the fridge and started fixing what was probably going to be her lunch for the day, before he started on the slice of bread that she had given him.

"_Shadow, huh? So she's had dogs before,"_ he muttered thoughtfully before swallowing the last scrap of bread. _"And from the sound of it, her old dog probably died or something like that. That would explain why she was so eager to take me in last night, and why she balked at the vet offering to euthanize me."_

Kit opened the fridge once again, returning the items that she had used to make her sandwich to their proper drawers, before rustling about on one of the upper shelves, muttering something under her breath. After a few moments, there was a loud curse as the young woman withdrew from the refrigerator; a lone green soda can clutched in her right hand.

"Dammit Alice, you drank all of my Mountain Dew!" she shouted angrily over her shoulder, knowing that her roommate wouldn't hear… or even care about her irritated ranting. "And you don't even **like** it!!"

As expected, there was no response from the older woman's room, and Kit let out a low sigh of irritation as she growled a steady stream of fairly creative curses through her teeth. Muttering some very disconcerting threats under her breath, the brunette stalked over to where her sandwich was located, pulled out a paper bag from one of the cupboards, and stuffed the wrapped sandwich and can of soda into it.

"Stupid, bloody, thieving, goth, horror-obsessed git," the woman groused darkly as she rolled up the top of the paper bag and stuffed it into her laptop carry case with far more force than necessary, causing Sanzo to wince slightly in sympathy for the poor sandwich's abuse. "Damn Alice and her idiotic caffeine binges. She probably drank them while she was pulling another one of her stupid horror movie marathons at **one in the bloody morning**."

It didn't take much for Sanzo to guess that Alice's apparent horror movie obsession was a point of annoyance for the other woman. However, he didn't understand why she kept using the word 'bloody', even though there was no reference to Alice actually bleeding.

Maybe it was a threat of some kind… or a promise. But the way she kept using it made it sound more like an obscenity.

Completely unaware of Sanzo's quiet musings on her choice of language, Kit finished packing up her lunch and threw the strap of her laptop bag over her shoulder. Turning around to face her new apartment buddy, and (even though she didn't know it) soon-to-be fellow hater of all horror movies, the young woman grinned as she reached down and briefly ruffled the fur on Sanzo's head, causing it to stick up every which way.

"You be good now," she said, cheerfully ignoring the dog's dirty glare as she headed towards the front door. "No wild dog parties, okay? I'll be back later and bearing gifts."

And with that parting, slightly sarcastic, statement, Kit left the apartment, locking the door behind her.

Sanzo blinked as he stared at the now-locked door, before he let out an annoyed growl and brought a paw up to try and flatten his ruffled fur. He had an entire day to figure out where the hell he was, and how to avoid his impending bathing. There was no way in hell that he was going to waste the opportunity to get out of this insane asylum.

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"Hey there girl, what took you so long?" Helen asked over her shoulder as Kit slid into her chair in her cubicle, sliding her laptop strap off of her shoulder and placing it on the ground by her feet.

"I had to feed my dog," she replied nonchalantly as she pulled out her computer, and the blonde woman nodded understandingly as she returned to her work.

"Oh, okay then…" Helen froze as she suddenly realized what she had been told, and spun around to face Kit, who was grinning smugly at her. "Wait a sec, feed your dog? You don't even **have** a dog!"

The smug grin turned into a full-blown smirk as blue eyes twinkled knowingly. Kit couldn't help but snicker slightly at Helen's annoyed look before she held up a finger like she was about to quote some form of ancient wisdom.

"Actually, I do now," she clarified as shock flashed across the blonde woman's face. "I got him last night."

"How?"

"I hit him with my truck."

Helen leaned back in her swivel chair and eyed the younger woman warily, a slightly teasing grin twitching about her mouth, although the look in her eyes indicated that she didn't know whether or not Kit was joking.

"Kit, luv, you do realize that roadkill doesn't exactly count as a pet…" she began hesitantly, and Kit smirked at her again, her eyes shining with impish glee as she led the older woman along. Helen recognized the look, having become far too familiar with over the past few months, and realized that the younger woman was yanking her chain. Kit, guessing that her ulterior motives had been discovered, smiled innocently as she leaned back in her chair.

"He's not dead. Apparently I just stunned him," the brunette pointed out calmly, although the shit-eating grin she gave her friend somewhat retracted from that. "I haven't named him yet, but I'm starting to lean towards 'Oscar', since he's kind of a grouch."

Helen blinked in surprise before she burst out laughing at Kit's statement, and seconds later Kit joined her. The two women rapidly dissolved into giggles as they came up with their own respective mental pictures of the situation, at least until there was the sound of someone clearing their throat from the opening in the cubicle behind them. The two jumped in their seats as they spun around to see a tall, lanky man with reddish-brown hair that flopped into his face staring at them, an odd little smile on his face as he watched the two women intently.

"Having fun, ladies?" he drawled lazily, and Kit fought the faint urge to fling Helen's full coffee mug at him as she twitched slightly in her seat. All she really wanted to do was get payback for Walt's earlier crime of ruining her character sketches yesterday, but somehow she didn't think that it would go over so well.

Helen straightened up, her back going rigid, as she scooted her chair over so that she was positioned slightly in front of the younger woman.

"Mr. Benedict, what are you doing here?" the blonde asked darkly, her gray eyes narrowed in what could only be described as a venomous glare. Walt didn't even seem fazed as he crossed his arms and leaned up against the side of the cubicle, a slightly oily smile on his face.

"I just wanted to stop by to see how the new sketches were coming along," he said as he adopted a guileless expression, although his black eyes took away somewhat from that. "After all, that little incident yesterday pretty much ruined them."

Kit scowled as she turned away from the older man, a dark look crossing her face as she pulled out her printed copies of her sketches from her laptop bag and held them up in the air meaningfully.

"I took the liberty of scanning them after I finished drawing the sketches, so all I had to do was print off some copies to replace the sketches that were ruined," she remarked dryly. _'No thanks to the stunt you pulled yesterday, asshole.'_

"Ah, alright then," Walt replied hesitantly, obviously taken somewhat aback by the young woman's matter-of-fact response, before he took a small step back out of the cubicle. "I'll be by later then to check on your progress."

And without another word, the lanky man turned around and exited the area abruptly. Helen watched Walt's retreating back intently until he disappeared around a corner, and let out a low sigh of relief as he did so before she sunk down in her chair.

"Creepy bastard," the blonde growled as she reached up and ran a hand through her hair, obviously left ill at ease from their manager's unexpected visit. Kit arched an eyebrow slightly as she looked askance at her co-worker, her lips twisting into a faint frown as she did so.

"Wow, you really don't like him, huh?" she asked dryly. Helen let out a very unladylike snort of derision as she twisted about in her seat and fixed her computer with a dirty glare as she booted it up.

"Let's put it this way; if Walter Benedict were to mysteriously fall down the middle of the stairwell and die a horrible, and gruesome, death I would need one hell of an airtight alibi."

"Ouch."

"Kit, honey, when I don't like someone, there's usually a very good reason," the older woman pointed out wearily as she looked over at the brunette with as serious expression on her face. Kit arched an eyebrow disbelievingly as she spun around in her chair to face her friend, a somewhat wry smile twitching about her lips.

"But… maybe he's just misunderstood," she offered hesitantly before she heaved an annoyed sigh at the memory of the coffee incident the day before. "And a klutz."

"And Barry in accounting isn't gay," Helen drawled sarcastically. Kit let out a nervous laugh as she shook her head at the older woman's comment.

"Helen, just because the guy's queerer than a three dollar bill doesn't mean that you should tease him. Besides, he's nice,"

"But he's still gay."

Kit laughed at that, a slight grin on her lips; even though she didn't want to admit that her friend did have a point. "True…"

Helen brought up a hand to indicate that the other artist should derail that particular train of thought as she peered intently at her computer screen, her expression suddenly becoming serious.

"Okay, we need to get our rears in gear and finish up some of those other sketches," she stated. "No more chitchat until we get that done, capiche?"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

"Drop the military act brat, it doesn't suit you."

"…alright."

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Sanzo scowled inwardly as he padded out into the living room, biting back the urge to start singeing the air with an impressive array of curses. There had been one very big flaw in his 'get the hell out of dodge' plan, and it had taken him only a few seconds to realize it.

Opposable thumbs were key to everything.

"_Damn it all!!"_ Sanzo growled as he glared daggers over at the doorknob that he swore was mocking his every move. There really was no way for him to leave the apartment without the assistance of someone with hands, at least not without jumping out of the window… and he **really** didn't want to do that, seeing as Kit lived all the way up on the fifth floor of her complex.

With an annoyed sigh, the priest headed over to the one room that he hadn't investigated yet, mostly due to the occupant and his complete and utter disdain for her. Sanzo nosed Alice's door open, and almost changed his mind right then and there when the stench of an animal cage in desperate need of cleaning hit his nose. The man swore foully as his sensitive nose hit its breaking point, and he started sneezing.

"_Oooohh… big sound. Master?"_

Sanzo froze as he looked around wildly, his ears flicking back and forth as he tried to locate the speaker. Against his better judgment he took a few steps further into Alice's room, looking around him cautiously. He had seen the other woman leave for 'college' or whatever it was called, so how could someone be in her room? Just as Sanzo was about to take a quick peek around the rest of the apartment, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned around to find a fat, black furry face peering at him from over the lip of the tray that covered the bottom portion of the cage.

"_What in the hell?"_ Sanzo muttered as he looked at the guinea pig, only slightly unnerved by the unblinking red eyes set in the chubby face surrounded by black fur that looked as though it had been on the receiving end of a swirly one too many times.

"_Not master. __**Big**__ furry."_

Sanzo blinked as he stared incredulously at the furball with the physique of an obese lima bean for several seconds, before his brain finally caught up with him.

"_Did you just __**talk**__?"_ he growled, padding over to the cage and pressing his nose against the bars, struggling valiantly to ignore the stench. If he could find out some sort of escape route from this thing, then he could stand the smell of a dirty cage for a few minutes.

The guinea pig cocked its head to the side as it peered up at Sanzo, squinting its red eyes slightly in obvious nearsightedness as it put one of its pink, hairless forepaws up on one of the cage bars.

"_Warm,"_ Blair stated simply as he went nose-to-nose with Sanzo, who stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds before he took a step back and let out a snort of disgust.

"_Wonderful,"_ the priest growled out as he rolled his eyes upwards. _"First I get turned into a dog. Then I'm stuck with two mentally unbalanced women. And now, the icing on the cake… I'm talking to a brain-damaged rat with obvious signs of mental retardation."_

The collie turned around with a sigh and was about to make a brief scan of the room, when he felt something clamp down on the end of his tail. Sanzo let out a loud yelp as he whirled around, only to find Blair sitting there in his cage, holding a large clump of gold and white fur in his mouth.

"_Blood,"_ the guinea pig somehow muttered around the mouthful of fur, blinking its large red eyes innocently.

What little patience Sanzo had with the situation snapped, and he let out a furious snarl that would have made full-grown men wet themselves in fear.

"_Fucking, goddamned cannibalistic rat!!"_ he growled as he stalked out of Alice's room, vowing never to enter the area again, not even if his life depended on it. It would be a cold day in hell before he ever let a deranged guinea pig injure him.

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It was several hours after the 'tail incident' before Kit finally got home, and Sanzo noticed right off the bat that she was carrying a massive paper bag in her arms, as well as trying rather unsuccessfully to stuff her keys back into her laptop bag without dropping anything. After almost dropping the entire mess right onto her feet, and muttering several rather interesting curses, Kit finally managed to make it over to the couch and set the bag down on it, as well as depositing her satchel down onto the carpeted floor.

"Damn, I swear they tried to make me buy everything **except** what I actually needed," Kit grumbled as she flopped down on the couch and leaned back onto the soft cushions, kicking off her shoes as she did so. "What part of 'I just need dog food' did they not understand?"

"_Oh no, you didn't,"_ Sanzo protested as he eyed the seemingly-innocent paper bag with trepidation. Kit, completely oblivious to his complaints, reached into the bag and pulled out a thick, plain leather collar, holding it up in the air for inspection. Noticing the increasingly filthy look that the dog was giving her, Kit arched an eyebrow as a slight smirk crossed her lips.

"Would you rather that I got the pink, rhinestone-studded collar with sparkly shit all over it?" she asked sarcastically. Sanzo gave a low huff of irritation in response as he turned his back to her, although he continued to watch the woman out of the corner of his eye. Kit grinned a bit at his actions before she resumed pulling things out of the bag laying the collar out on the couch as she did so.

"Anyways, I got you a set of food and water bowls, a brush, some shampoo, a leash, and a small bag of food, since I didn't know what kind you would eat," the woman rambled eagerly as she pulled out each item and set it down on the couch. "Good grief, I swear it was like a friggin' commercial spree in the damn dog food aisle… you would think that they were trying to sell people food in bags with some of the ingredients that they had pasted on the labels. I mean, c'mon… fettuccini alfredo flavored dog food? What kind of dork would actually **buy** something like that?"

"_Seeing as I don't know what that is, I can't even begin to guess,"_ Sanzo drawled dryly as he flopped down on the carpet and rested his head on top of his paws. _"It doesn't even sound edible… then again, nothing connected with the words 'dog food' does."_

It was at about that moment that the collie noticed that Kit had left the room, and the water was running in the bathroom. A feeling of impending doom washed over him, and it got even worse when Kit walked back out into the living room, having changed from her work clothes to a baggy black t-shirt and ratty jean shorts. Sanzo didn't even wait for her to take a single step in his direction before he bolted, diving under the dining room table and huddling under the middle with all of the chairs surrounding him like a protective barrier.

"_Woman, you touch me, you die,"_ he snarled, his ears flattened all the way against his skull as he bared his teeth menacingly at Kit. The woman looked taken aback for a few seconds before her expression hardened and she made her way over to the table and pulled one of the chairs out of the way. Sanzo's low growl of warning became a throaty snarl, and Kit scowled as she crouched down in front of him.

"I swear, if you bite me, then your ass is grass and I'm the lawnmower," she threatened in a no-nonsense tone of voice, her blue eyes narrowed slightly. "If you thought the vet was bad, then you'll be more than ready to believe that the dog groomer's is hell on earth. They'll strap your ass down to a table, put a muzzle on you, shave you bald and teach you to walk backwards. Or I can always arrange for them to dye your fur pink."

Kit then smiled at the dog, but it was much like the smile that Hakkai usually used when he was pissed off and didn't want to show it. Sanzo felt a shudder run down his spine when he realized that the woman would probably carry out her threat, and not give a damn about the consequences.

Before further contemplations could be made on the subject, Kit reached under the table and hauled Sanzo out by the scruff of his neck, causing the man to let out a startled yelp for the second time that day as he splayed his paws out and tried rather unsuccessfully to dig his blunt claws into the slick tile covering the floor. Kit growled out a curse under her breath as she reached down and slid one arm underneath Sanzo's front legs, and the other behind his back one, hauling him up against her chest with a strained grunt.

The curses that the priest spewed out at her as she stumbled towards the bathroom would have made sailors green with envy, and they didn't stop until Kit dumped him unceremoniously into the tub half-full of hot water. Sanzo stood there up to his stomach in warm water, practically shaking with rage, and all he could do was wish with every fiber of his being that he was capable of using his banishing gun on the woman that was responsible for his torture.

"Holy crap, you're heavy," Kit gasped as she slumped down against the tub, wiping an arm against her forehead even though there was no sweat from her efforts. "Damn, I need to find a better way of hauling your stubborn ass into the bathroom without giving myself a hernia."

"_I'd suggest not dragging me in here in the first place,"_ Sanzo all but snarled as he glared daggers at the brunette responsible for his misery. Additional, less kind words were about to be used to further describe the priest's feelings towards Kit and her giving him a bath, only to be cut off as the young woman brusquely upended a large plastic cup full of water over his head.

The 'dog' growled low in his throat as he shook his head violently to get the bathwater out of his eyes, splashing Kit full in the face. The twenty-one-year old froze for a second before she reached up and slowly wiped the water out of her eyes, an odd expression crossing her face before she gave her 'opponent' a challenging smirk.

"Oh, it is so on!" Kit yelled out as she pounced on Sanzo, pinning him down in the tub before she snagged the plastic cup once again and proceeded to furiously dump water all over his body. The priest struggled against her grip for a few seconds before he realized that it was useless. However, he made sure to keep an eye out for an opportunity to escape this torture… or at least the possibility for payback.

As soon as she had thoroughly soaked her victim, Kit made the mistake of releasing the collie when she reached for the bottle of dog shampoo balanced on the far end of the tub. Sanzo, seeing his chance for revenge, seized Kit by the front of her shirt with his teeth and jerked as hard as he could, pulling the woman into the tub with a loud splash.

Sputtering angrily, Kit pushed herself up into a crouching position in the warm water as she reached up and brushed her soaking bangs out of her face, giving Sanzo a death glare that rivaled his own.

"Alright then, smartass. You want to play rough, do you? Well then I'll give you rough!" she growled as she once again seized the priest by the scruff of the neck and reached for the shampoo bottle, pouring an obscene amount of the faintly-scented goo onto his fur before she started to work it into a lather, pointedly ignoring her sopping wet clothing. "I said that I was going to give you a bath, and by God you'll get one, even if it kills me!"

The sounds that came from the bathroom for the next twenty minutes would have been more suited to a warzone… well, if a war involved a woman using language that would make most soldiers flinch, a dog barking furiously, and loud splashing sounds.

"Hold still, you damn mutt!!!"

"_Let go of me, bitch!"_

SHULLLAP!!!

"Dammit dog, stop splashing water out of the tub!!"

"_Let go of me first, and maybe I'll think about it!!"_

"I don't fucking think so, buddy!! Your ass is not leaving this tub until the water that comes off of you stops turning brown!"

"_Where the hell did the dirt __**come**__ from?! Wait, I know: the bottom of your goddamned truck that you __**hit**__ me with!!! And I am perfectly capable of washing myself, bitch!!"_

By the time Kit pulled out the plug to let the now-brown water go down the drain she was soaked to the bone, her hair had almost completely escaped from her ponytail, and the entire bathroom was covered in about an inch of water. Sanzo scowled darkly as he watched the young woman step out of the tub, his lavender eyes narrowed into a furious glare, before he shook his entire body, sending water spraying in sheets everywhere, with Kit on the receiving end for the majority of the liquid.

Kit just stood there with a deadpan expression on her face, although a noticeable tic developed above her right eye as she slowly reached up and wiped all of the water off of her face.

"The fact that I'm already soaking wet kind of defeats whatever purpose you were trying to achieve," she stated with a low growl of annoyance slightly evident in her voice, her eyes narrowed into a menacing glower. "However, your sentiments are both noted and unappreciated. And quit your bitching; at least you don't smell like you've been dumpster diving behind the meat processing plant anymore."

Sanzo scowled as he stepped out of the tub, only to find himself being attacked and rubbed down with a rather large fluffy towel that Kit had somehow managed to store in a place where it would remain dry. By the time the woman was done rubbing him down, all of Sanzo's fur stuck out in every which way, making him look like a giant golden puffball with an incredibly venomous glare.

"_I swear I can hear that damn kappa laughing at me right now,"_ he growled as he shoved his way out of the bathroom as Kit opened the door to get some more towels to wipe up the flooded tile, and promptly bolted into the relative peace and quiet that Kit's bedroom offered. There was no way in hell that he was coming out until his fur dried, and he stopped looking like an oversized Pomeranian with a bad hair day.

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Saturday was the only day that Kit ever really allowed herself to sleep in, and she always shut her alarm off on Friday night so she wouldn't have to face the evil device for at least one day.

However, she was completely unaware that she now had a different sort of alarm clock, one that people all across the world use.

The dog alarm. Yeah, you know, the one that always manages to wake you up at two in the morning by poking you in the face with the knowledge of the threat that if you ignore their persistent attention, they will leave one of two different kinds of lovely presents for you to find in the morning if you don't let them outside. Right. Now.

This was why Kit was currently standing outside her apartment building at one in the morning, in her pajamas, muttering curses as she hopped from one bare foot to the other on the cold concrete while she waited impatiently for Sanzo to do his… doody. Obviously this was some sick form of payback for her giving him a bath… as though being soaked to the skin and having to mop up the bathroom wasn't punishment enough.

"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry the hell up," the woman chanted as she wrapped her arms around herself, silently wishing that she had been alert enough to think about grabbing a jacket or some shoes before she had taken the collie outside. Right now, she felt a bit of sympathy for her dad, who had been the one to take the dogs outside in the middle of the night when she was a kid, and Shadow had been alive.

Sanzo on the other hand, was desperately wishing that Kit had just let him go outside alone. Why, oh **why** did he have to deal with this?

"_I swear, when I get my hands on those demons, they will wish that I had shot them instead of what I'm going to do to them,"_ the man snarled with increasing vehemence. He was rapidly losing any and all patience he may have had with the situation, and this recent development was nothing short of humiliating.

"C'mon dog, its friggin' cold out here!" Kit whined to no one in particular as she shifted about impatiently in her spot. "Just find a damn spot already and go to the bathroom."

Sanzo leveled a murderous glare at the woman from over his shoulder before her ducked behind a bush, leaving Kit blinking stupidly in surprise as her sleep-deprived brain tried to piece together what she had just seen.

"Okay, now I'm seein' shit that ain't there," the twenty-one-year old mumbled as she reached up and held her forehead with one hand. "I **definitely** need to get more sleep. There's no such thing as a modest dog."

In what had to be the shortest bathroom break in the history of all mankind, Sanzo emerged from the bushes and made a beeline for the stairway, growling some very vile obscenities under his breath as he ignored Kit scrambling after him. Not even two days had gone by yet, and he was already more than ready to kill something, if only to release some of his tension.

When the Merciful Pain in his Ass finally decided to grace Sanzo with her divine presence, he was going to be doing far more than having just a few words with her. Besides, what kind of goddess would assign him to go west to fetch the Seiten sutra if she didn't actually do something to get him out of this moronic situation?

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Heh, well, here's the next chapter… finally. Sorry about the wait, but I had a lot of crap hit me all at once. Finals first of all, and then I had a bunch of family problems to deal with too, which was all oh so much fun… **not**.

As you can see, the situation becomes a bit more complicated, and the beginning of a battle of wills emerges. So who will win: Kit or Sanzo?

Well, anyways, I hope that everyone enjoyed this new chapter, and that you all had an awesome Christmas and New Year's. Sorry for the slight shortness of the chapter, but I promise that the next one will be longer.

**Reviews:**

The Paranoia Kids: I'm glad that you like the story so much already.

Gothic Anime Fairy: Thanks. Okay, now I know what you're talking about. I saw like the first half of that 10th Kingdom thing when I was a kid… I thought that it sucked. Sorry if you like it, but I'm not exactly a big fan of it. And Sanzo is way cooler than some stupid prince.

**Sanzo:** Even though you may mean that as a compliment, I still find that to be insulting. (Pulls out his fan and beats Wandering Hitokiri upside the head)

Khait Khepri: Hmm, maybe I should see if I can draw that… that's a really good idea. Yeah, Sanzo is a bit stiff, but I also think that he has a few morals… just a few. Like not peeking on a woman while she's undressing.

Fun-sized Friend: No, Sanzo's not going to be a dog for the entire story, and I'm not too sure on the romance bit. There's going to be some friendship, even though Sanzo's mostly going to deny everything, just like how he does with Hakkai and the others. I'm glad that you appreciate my grammar and spelling, because there are so many people out there on FF who don't use the proper spelling and grammar, and it just drives me mental. Yeah, I'm kind of anal about stuff like that.

patriot16: Holy crow, did you somehow get onto my computer and read one of the later chapters that I've already started?!! Aw, crap… spoiler. (Starts smacking her head against the closest available wall)

yaoilover6969: Thanks.

Sylviah Elric: They won't see any of the stuff that Sanzo has to go through as a dog in our world, but Gojyo will make some smart-ass remarks about taking Sanzo to the vet once he's human again, and he almost ends up getting shot because of the fact that to Sanzo the word 'vet' is now pretty much a cuss word. Kit also doesn't really say anything about it either, mostly because she respects Sanzo's right to privacy. Well that, and the fact that she knows that he'll probably raise holy hell if she even mentions half of the things that happened to him as a dog.

Arugula: Thanks. I'm glad that you like it.

See you all next chapter.

Sayonara!


	4. Chapter 4: Beach Bums

"You're not sure which one's real… and which one's just an illusion… But I know only our own judgment can make up for these decisions; you just have to figure it out for yourself." – Faye Flannigan

**Chapter Four:  
Beach Bums **

After the infamous 'bath fiasco', as it would later come to be called, Kit decided that it would probably be prudent to put a 'Found' add in the classified section, especially since Sanzo didn't seem to be suffering any ill effects from his close call with her truck's front bumper. She really didn't want to pull a Nate, seeing as he had made the phrase 'borrowing without any intention of ever bringing it back' famous long before Jack Sparrow ever saw fit to use it.

This ironically, led to the fiasco that took place that next Saturday.

Kit, after being woken up well before she wanted to by a very persistent Sanzo, and failing to fall back asleep after roughly shoving the collie off the bed, had ended up sitting at her desk and working on some sketches that she hadn't been quite satisfied with. Sanzo, seeing that the bed was free, had commandeered it, and was now watching the woman work and mutter things under her breath through half-lidded eyes as he dozed, completely content to be able to relax for a few moments without having to deal with any annoyances for the moment.

At least until the telephone rang that is.

Kit jumped at the sound, and then promptly began sifting through the jumble of papers covering her desk in a frantic attempt to locate her house phone. After much cursing, and several loud 'God dammit!'s, plus angry ranting on never being able to find the phone, the brunette managed to locate the elusive phone before it stopped ringing, and hit the 'Talk' button as she held it up to her ear.

"Hello?" Kit asked as she sank back down into her chair, and her eyes immediately widened as she straightened up in her seat. "Yes, I did put that ad in the paper."

**That** caught Sanzo's attention, and his eyes widened marginally as he immediately looked over at Kit, who was currently frowning slightly. Apparently the gods really did love to screw with him, if this recent development was anything to go by. Kit didn't notice the collie's sudden unease as she shifted in her seat, letting out a soft sigh as she did so.

The woman listened to the person on the other end of the line for several moments before she noticed that Sanzo was currently staring at her intently. For some reason she felt guilty, almost like a kid caught doing something bad.

But that was stupid, right? All she was trying to do was return a lost dog to its owner, so there was nothing wrong with that.

"Yes, the dog I found is a collie, and he is a male," Kit muttered as she snapped out of her daze, returning her focus to the person calling her. "No, he's gold and white, not a black and white tri-color. And he's got purple eyes." A loud sigh, and then Kit rolled her eyes upwards as she leaned back in her chair. "Yes, I said purple eyes. No, I am not mistaken. I'm pretty sure that I can tell the difference between blue and purple, sir. Well, they could just be a really dark blue, but it's kind of hard to tell."

Kit waited a few moments, listening to the man on the other end of the line patiently, before she frowned and picked up her pencil, doodling idly on a small scrap of notebook paper. "No, actually, he's not all that friendly. He's really kind of stand-offish. Hm? Oh, okay then. I'm sorry sir. I really wish that I could be of more help. Mhmm… goodbye."

With a loud sigh, Kit set the phone back down on its cradle before she reached up and raked a hand through her messy bangs, relief evident on her features as she did so.

"Thank God," she finally muttered before she reached down and began to gently scratch Sanzo behind his ears, a small smile twitching about her lips. "It wasn't you that they were looking for. Although, if I happen to see a black tri-color running around sometime in the near future, I know who to call now. Let's just hope that I don't find him by you two getting into a dogfight."

Sanzo let out a long sigh as he fought the strong urge to roll his eyes. Even if he did feel a slight hint of relief at the fact that he wasn't about to be shipped off to some other strange place in this god-forsaken village, he was still going stir-crazy from being shut up in this damn apartment for a week, with only being able to go outside to answer 'the call of nature' while under strict supervision.

He felt like a damn kid all over again just from how often Kit kept an eye on him.

_"And here I thought that you were doing your damndest to get rid of me,"_ the priest drawled dryly as he sat up. Kit chuckled slightly as she spun back around in her chair, returning to her sketches.

"At least I don't have to give you back to someone yet. It's nice having **something** sane in this place besides me," she remarked with a wry grin before her eyes narrowed and a disgusted expression crossed her face. "Hell, I think even Alice's damn **guinea pig** is freakin' insane."

"_Truer words have never been spoken,"_ Sanzo agreed, thinking about the events that had taken place last week. Speaking of which, he hadn't gotten back at that psychotic ball of fur yet. Maybe he should 'accidentally' introduce Blair to the wonderful marvel of a flushing toilet…

"And you may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but at least you're my pain in the ass," Kit joked fondly as she glanced over at a reference picture.

"_WHAT?!!"_ Sanzo snarled as he shot a 'burst into flames' level scowl at the brunette. _"Say that again woman, and say it to my face!!"_

NOBODY called him a pain in the ass and lived to tell the tale.

Just as Sanzo was about to do his damndest to extract vengeance is some horribly painful manner, the phone rang once again. Kit yelped as she jerked in her seat at the sound, and then promptly spat out a loud curse when she stared down at the huge pencil mark that stretched across half of her character's face. Making a low growling noise in the back of her throat, Kit snatched the cordless phone up from the receiver and hit 'Talk' with far more force than necessary before she pressed it up to her ear.

"What?" she asked tersely as she made a grab for her eraser, only to send it rolling over the edge of her desk, resulting in a snarled 'fucking son of a bitch' as the woman ducked down and retrieved the wayward drawing tool before slapping it down on top of her desk.

"_**Is that how you address your darling brother after not talking to me for all these months?"**_ a familiar male voice asked teasingly from the other end, giving Kit cause to roll her eyes upwards as she leaned back in her chair with a sigh.

"Yes, that is exactly how I talk to my brother," she retorted with a disbelieving snort. "And I'd have to be stoned out of my gourd to call you my 'darling brother'. Pain in the ass and whiny, yes, but darling? Not only no, but hell no."

"_**Aww… Kitty, you're hurting my feelings!"**_

Kit tensed up before she glared daggers at the phone, her expression murderous. "Nathan, call me Kitty again and you will die screaming like a little girl."

"_**Aw, c'mon, what are you going to do, come after me with that little wooden sword of yours?"**_ Nate asked dryly, and surprisingly, Kit smirked as she cast a glance over in the direction of her closet.

"Something like that," she said knowingly, and one could practically hear the smirk in her voice. "So, tell me 'Nii-san', why are you calling me?"

"_**Kit, why do you always call me that?"**_

"Because I know it bugs the crap out of you."

"_**Dammit."**_

Kit chuckled as a brief grin flashed across her face. "Nate, stop being so whiny and just tell me what you want."

One could almost see the pout that the older man was trying to give his sister from the other end of the phone line, only to be rendered completely useless by the fact that he couldn't see her.

"_**So then I'm assuming that you're too busy to come over to Mom and Dad's with the rest of us for a barbeque?"**_ he asked innocently, and Kit's face almost immediately lit up as she sat up in her chair, smiling brightly.

"Are you nuts?!" she retorted as she shoved her sketches away from her and stood up, heading for her dresser. "I've been dying to go home and see them, but I've been too damn busy. Is Em going to be there?"

"_**Yeah, and Zack's here too. He's practically hovering over her now that she's seven months along, and apparently it's driving her insane."**_

"Poor Emma," Kit muttered as she pulled out a somewhat baggy white t-shirt with the stylized word 'Billabong' proudly emblazoned on it from her dresser before tossing it over onto her bed, followed shortly by a slightly ragged pair of denim cargo shorts. "I know she may be pregnant with their first kid, but Zack needs to give her some space before she kicks his ass, baby or no baby. Oh, am I correct in assuming that we're going to hit the beach too?"

"_**Uh yeah, that's where Dad set up the grill. Took the two of us forever to get that damn thing out of the back of my jeep, but we did it,"**_ Nate said proudly as Kit rolled her eyes and shook her head at her brother's antics. Before anything else could be said, there was the sound of a loud 'FWOOM!' from somewhere in the background on Nate's end, followed by a man cussing up a storm.

Kit arched an eyebrow as she pulled the phone away from her ear for a few moments and stared down at it, her eyebrows almost hitting her hairline, before she put it back up to her ear again.

"Did Dad just blow up the grill again?" she asked dryly, earning her a somewhat wary look from Sanzo as he scooted discretely away from her.

"_**Yep."**_

"Too much lighter fluid?"

"_**Something like that."**_

"On a gas grill?"

"_**Personally, I think that it has nothing to do with what kind of grill he uses,"**_ Nate muttered dryly. _**"It's just Dad."**_

Kit snickered slightly at the statement before she glanced over at Sanzo thoughtfully, an idea forming in her mind as she returned her attention to her brother.

"Hey, are you guys going to bring Sandy and Jethro out there with you too?" she queried, a slow grin making its way across her face.

"_**Yeah, they're here. It's not like we were going to leave those two yahoos in the house all alone where they can get into trouble,"**_ the man stated with mock annoyance before his tone became curious. _**"Why do you want to know?"**_

"Well… I'm thinking about bringing over a new friend for them to meet," the brunette said innocently, and the tone almost immediately set Sanzo on guard. Something not right was going on, and he had a feeling that it involved him.

"_**Oh dear God, Kit, please tell me that you did not get a fucking cat!"**_ Nate protested, horrified at the mere thought. _**"If you've gone to the Dark Side, then I will be forced to kill you myself to try and redeem your soul."**_

Kit let out an exasperated sigh as she rolled her eyes, silently wishing that her brother didn't have to be such a drama queen. "Geez Nate, you are such a dork sometimes. Why the hell would I get a cat when I hate them? And that's ignoring the fact that they're homicidal little furballs who enjoy turning people into their own personal scratching posts. No, I got a dog."

"_**Holy shit! And Alice let you keep it without trying to poison it? Wow… wait a sec, it's not one of those stupid, yappy little mops, is it?"**_

"No, he's a collie, and a big one at that. And Alice hates him, but I told her to fuck off when she tried to hurt him after I brought him home. I think that surprised her more than anything," Kit admitted as she rummaged through her drawers for a few moments before finally pulling out a simple black, one-piece bathing suit.

"_**Well yeah, that stupid bitch is so used to people just letting her push them around so she can get her way that she probably had a heart attack when you defied her,"**_ Nate commented before his tone turned evil. _**"Has she come out of her room since then? You might want to check to see if there's a corpse."**_

"Ugh, that's gross," Kit muttered as she gave the phone a dirty look. "And you seem to have forgotten what my major was, dipshit. If Alice had kicked the bucket in her room, I would know, especially after an entire week of not having to put up with her crap. You're sick."

"_**I try my best."**_

"Okay, conversation over," the twenty-one-year old stated with a grimace. "I'll see you guys in about an hour or so, okay? And please… just make sure that Dad doesn't blow himself to kingdom come before I get there."

"_**Can't make any promises, Kitty,"**_ the man offered, and snickered at his sister's profane response before his attention was directed elsewhere. _**"Crap, Dad just set a burger on fire. Gotta go before he lights the entire beach on fire trying to put it out."**_

With a loud click, Nathan hung up, leaving Kit standing there with a bemused look on her face before she let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Those two," she muttered wryly as she shook her head, reaching up to rake her hand through her sleep-tangled bangs pensively. "And people wonder where I get my pyromaniac tendencies."

Grabbing the clothes that she had pulled out, and snatching up her brush from where it sat on her desk, Kit opened her bedroom door and headed to the bathroom, intending on doing battle with her chronic, and stubborn, bed-head. Sanzo watched her go before he settled back down onto the woman's bed, knowing that he wouldn't have long before he probably got dragged off on some sort of insane venture with the brunette.

Somehow, he had his doubts as to whether or not he'd actually enjoy the experience.

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Genjo Sanzo was not pleased.

That is, of course, by 'not pleased', one actually meant 'burning with the unquenchable rage of a thousand and one supernovas, all while fingering the trigger of his Smith and Wesson longingly'.

At the moment, if he were capable of committing such an act, the blonde priest would be more than happy to fill Kit full of lead for what she had done to him. Pettiness be damned.

Growling out a series of obscenities that would give even a Marine a lesson in choice language, the priest-turned-dog tried to scratch at the dark green dog harness that Kit had somehow managed to fit him with. Actually, if one really wanted to be precise, she sat on him and forced the accursed contraption over his head before buckling it snugly around his stomach.

"_You will __**pay**__ for this,"_ he hissed, shooting the young woman a murderous look as she hummed along with the rock song blaring from her CD player. Sanzo flinched, and then promptly flattened his ears against his head to block out the noise when one of the singers went up a few pitches higher than he could stand.

If there was one thing that he hated more than the apparent abundance of cars in this city, it was the loud, grating music that everyone seemed to enjoy. Kit apparently favored two male bands by the names of 'Nickelback' and 'Breaking Benjamin', but Sanzo thought that they were nothing more than crap. However, he also wondered why he hadn't heard of something so annoying yet. If these kinds of bands were as popular as he thought, why hadn't he ever heard them mentioned before?

Further contemplations on the topic ground to a halt as Kit slowly came to a stop in front of a large two-story house, putting her beloved truck into park before she turned it off and opened the door, only to be tacked by a pair of screaming children the moment her sandaled feet touched the dirt. Sanzo watched attentively as the two kids, both of them no older than ten, managed to pull the woman down to her knees, shrieking loudly with glee as Kit pretended to protest in mock horror.

"Oh no! I'm being attacked by wild animals!" Kit called out as she retaliated against the boy and the girl pinning her to the ground by reaching up and tickling them, a maniacal grin on her face as she did so. "I'm gonna get you!"

"Gyaaah, stopit Kit!!!" the boy managed to shriek out before Kit moved with surprising agility for someone with a desk job, disentangling herself from the two kids before she pinned them down on the ground… and sat on them.

"Hoo boy, this sure is comfy after all of that driving," she commented offhandedly, completely unconcerned with the fact that she was currently sitting on top of a six-year old boy and a nine-year old girl. "I think I'll take a nap."

"NOOOO!!! Don't go to sleep!!" the boy, his green eyes wide underneath curly red hair, pleaded as he shoved against the small of Kit's back. "Get offa me!!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah!! We wanna play! You can sleep later!"

Kit smiled gently as she quickly picked herself up off of her two cousins, reaching down and hauling Anna to her feet before she ruffled Jesse's unkempt hair.

"So, you want to play, eh?" she asked mischievously, planting her hands on her hips as she leaned forward slightly to look at the two kids, her braid flopping over her shoulder as she did so. "But where's my hug? I can't play with you guys until I get my hugs!"

Sanzo watched in disbelief as the young woman was promptly tackled once again by the two munchkins, wrapping her arms around them in a massive bear-hug while the siblings tried to do the same to the older woman. Chuckling loudly, Kit lifted the two kids up in the air with a soft grunt as she swung them about once before collapsing in a heap underneath a pile of giggling children. She **willingly** subjected herself to this kind of humiliation?

"_What the hell are you on?"_ the priest finally asked, not really expecting an answer as he approached the open door on the driver's side and peered down at the woman. Kit had an incredibly stupid smile on her face as she lounged carelessly in the dirt, reaching up and tugging on the end of one of Anna's light brown braids as Sanzo looked away from the scene with an audible huff of annoyance.

Almost immediately two sets of wide green eyes snapped over to the collie, and Sanzo suddenly found himself being squeezed to death by a hyperactive, redheaded six-year old.

"Doggy!!" Jesse crowed excitedly as he wrapped his arms around Sanzo's neck, cutting off the priest's oxygen supply as he scrambled up into the front seat while using Sanzo as an anchor. In response, the 'dog' made a loud gagging noise as he tried to struggle out of the boy's surprisingly strong grasp, too winded to even think about cussing out the source of his misery.

Anna, once she saw that her little brother was hogging the new dog all to himself, disentangled herself from Kit before she bounded over to the truck, reaching out and stroking Sanzo's silky golden fur almost reverently.

"You got a dog, Kit?" she asked, her eyes wide in awe as she looked over at her cousin, who propped herself up on her elbows and grinned as she nodded once in affirmation. "Wow, she's so pretty!"

"_WHAT?!!"_

Kit chuckled as she got to her feet, brushing herself off before she reached over and gently lifted Jesse away from Sanzo, freeing the priest from the young boy's clutches.

"Anna, that's a boy dog. I don't think that he'd be very happy that you called him a girl," Kit offered with a grin as she set Jesse down on the ground, holding on to the back of his shirt to keep him from jumping back into the truck as she reached over and pulled the satchel that she had thrown together before leaving her apartment out from the backseat, slinging it over her shoulder easily. Anna pouted at the older woman as she continued to pet Sanzo, her somewhat sticky fingers clinging to his fur.

"But he's so pretty!" she protested earnestly. Kit sighed as she rolled her eyes upwards, trying not to laugh.

"Anna, honey, boy dogs are handsome. Girl dogs are pretty."

Sanzo was so mad that all he was capable of was sputtering incoherent curses as he glared daggers at the two children currently harassing him. He didn't like it when Lirin decided to use him as a glorified booster seat during fights between Goku and Kougaiji, so letting these pests manhandle him was completely out of the question.

"_Hands off, brat,"_ the priest snarled as he glared angrily at Anna, who only chuckled as she burrowed her face into the warm depths of his ruff, her thin arms snaking around the canine's massive shoulders in a childish hug.

"Kit, your dog's purring," she giggled happily as she snuggled up next to the massive animal. Kit blanched as she looked up from where she had been searching for Sanzo's leash under the front seat, the leather grip of the leash in her hand as she gave the collie the most evil look he had ever seen from any woman.

And the high level of killing intent that she was aiming directly at him was no small feat either.

"Hey kiddo, you might want to leave him alone for now," the woman said cheerfully as she got up and attached the chain to the clip on the back of Sanzo's harness, jerking on it a little harder than necessary. "I don't think that he's really used to a lot of people yet."

"Okay," Anna chirped as she released the dog before she hopped out of the truck. "I'll go tell Uncle Rick and Aunt Bella that you're here!"

Without even waiting for an affirmation, the nine-year old darted towards the house, hollering happily as she went.

"Kit's here! Momma, Daddy, Aunt Bella, Kit's here!"

The young woman let out a long sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked over at her other cousin, who was now trying to clamber up on Sanzo's back so he could get a 'horsey' ride.

"Nate gave you two sugar, didn't he?" she asked dryly as she arched an eyebrow, reaching over and effortlessly plucking the boy off of the now-thoroughly pissed-off dog's back.

"Yep!"

Kit let out a long sigh as she crouched down in front of Jesse, holding her arms out slightly behind her so the boy could jump on her back for a piggyback ride. "You think that he would have learned by now."

Jesse just giggled loudly as he wrapped his arms around Kit's neck, enjoying the fact that his older cousin was paying attention to him. The brunette let out a good-natured sigh as she shook her head, a soft smile flickering across her lips as she headed towards her parents house with a giggling six-year old latched firmly to her back and a rather irately fuming priest currently trapped in the form of a large shepherding dog in tow.

However, Kit didn't even make it to the front porch of her house before what could only be described as a large mushroom cloud exploded up from the beach about a mile away, followed by the faint sounds of a man angrily shrieking profanities at some poor unfortunate object. Kit stopped dead in her tracks as she stared at the large cloud of smoke billowing up from the beach, her face paling slightly, before she hissed a soft curse under her breath and broke into a ground eating jog, forcing Sanzo into a trot to keep up with her.

Ten minutes later the woman broke through the screen of trees and onto the beach, only to come screeching to a halt as she observed the scene in front of her with a wryly arched eyebrow.

Her father, a tall, lanky, raven-haired man in his mid fifties wearing khaki board shorts, a brown t-shirt, flip-flops, and a stained blue apron that said 'Fear the Grill Master', stood in front of a somewhat scorched-looking barbeque grill, armed with a metal spatula, and turning the air around him blue with an impressive array of obscenities as he glared daggers at the metal grill. Nate stood just a few yards away from the older man with his arms crossed over his chest, apparently unharmed from the earlier blast, his green eyes wide as he watched his father spout off a rather detailed list of things that were physically impossible at the inanimate object.

Wordlessly, Kit got her impressionable young cousin off her back and handed him over to her twenty-six-year old brother, who offered a somewhat sheepish grin at her before he retreated back off towards the house at a rapid pace before Jesse was corrupted further. Kit glanced over her shoulder to make sure that her brother and cousin were both gone before she heaved a long-suffering sigh and crossed her arms over her chest, an affectionate look in her eyes as she shook her head in mock admonishment.

"Dad, I don't think that the grill can actually reproduce," she commented offhandedly, and Richard Fargo spun around to look at her, his blue eyes wide in surprise as he stared at his youngest daughter before an excited smile broke out over his face. Bridging the gap between him and his child in only a few steps, the high school English teacher swept Kit up into a crushing bear hug, causing the young woman to let out a slightly strangled gasp as he did so.

"Hey doll, how you been?" Rick finally asked as he released Kit, who had muttered theatrically that she 'couldn't breathe'. The woman gave him a weary grin before she glanced over at the singed barbeque grill, arching an eyebrow questioningly as she turned back to face her father.

"I've been okay," she finally admitted before she gave the older man a reassuring smile. "It's just that between work and dealing with Alice… well, it just wears me out sometimes."

Rick snorted at this as he returned his attention to the grill, and the badly incinerated hamburgers still clinging stubbornly to the top of the grill. It was blatantly obvious that the pieces of meat could now be qualified as pure carbon, and were quite dead. "Yeah, stress can really get to you sometimes. Just be thankful that you don't have to grade a bunch of papers written by hormonal teenagers who can't get it through their thick heads that text speak is not part of the English language. And the doctors wonder why I have high blood pressure."

Kit rolled her eyes as she approached the grill with Sanzo trailing behind her, watching her father intently as he did so.

"If you took your pills regularly like Mom always tells you to, then that wouldn't be a problem," she chided softly as she picked up the scraper and began to resolutely pry the incinerated remains of the burgers up off the grill top.

"I do take them regularly. It's just that some of those kids would make even a saint want to commit homicide."

Kit chuckled at this as she gave her father a knowing smile, her blue eyes sparkling with barely hidden humor as she finished scraping off the charred remnants of the burgers from the rest of the grill. "Aren't you glad that I wasn't like that at that age?"

"If you, Nathan, or Emma had pulled half the crap that some of these idiots do, your mother and I would have kicked your asses," Rick stated seriously as he bent down and opened up the cooler to retrieve some more raw hamburger patties, as well as a package of brats. "And then buried you in the backyard and built a gazebo over the graves."

"Gee, I feel so loved."

"No, you just had parents who wouldn't put up with petty teenage bullshit."

Sanzo blinked as he sat back and watched the friendly, yet sarcastic banter exchanged between father and daughter as they worked together to get the propane grill back in working order, with Kit commandeering her father's spatula so she could take over on the cooking while stating that she 'didn't feel like eating burnt to shit hamburgers'. Rick just laughed as he relinquished the cooking tool to his daughter, letting her work on grilling the food before he shifted his attention over to Sanzo.

"So this is what Nate was talking about when he said that you were bringing a friend, eh?" he asked as he crouched down in front of Sanzo and started to pet the collie, ignoring the annoyed glare that Sanzo shot in his direction. "Have you named him yet?"

"Nah, not yet," Kit muttered offhandedly as she opened up the package of brats and started slapping the sausages down on the hot grill. "I'm going in between Oscar, since he's a bit of a grouch, or Bandit."

"Why Bandit?"

"Because he stole my hash browns right off of my plate last week."

Rick chuckled as he looked at the dog, who gave him an irritated glare before he looked away and let out a huff of annoyance, and smiled as his callused fingers expertly found Sanzo's 'scratchy spot' right behind the priest's ear. Sanzo almost melted into a giant puddle of doggy ecstasy as his back leg started to motor away, his body reacting in a way that his mind would never in a million years agree to, only for him to realize just what he was doing.

He promptly swore loudly and angrily as he jerked away from the man, a low, threatening growl thundering its way out of his throat, before a small dirt clod bounced off his snout. Sanzo's growl died in his throat as he looked over at Kit, who was glaring at him, her expression stony as she stalked over to the 'dog' before grabbing him by the scruff and shaking him slightly.

Actually, 'slightly' was a massive understatement in Sanzo's opinion, as when Kit grabbed him and shook him, his teeth crashed together and stars exploded in front of his eyes. It was now official: being a dog sucked.

"No-no, that was no-no," she hissed as she grabbed his leash and dragged the priest over to where a large number of chairs were circled around a fire pit dug into the sand before she attached it to the metal leg of a rather sturdy-looking folding chair. Rick watched the proceedings with an arched eyebrow, a small frown flickering across his face as he watched the dog intently.

"Kit, has he growled at you yet?" he asked, and the woman looked over her shoulder as she got to her feet, her expression politely curious.

"Nah," Kit finally said as she reached down and good-naturedly ruffled the fur on Sanzo's head, making him glare at her once again. "I just think that he's not really used to being around other people yet. Actually, he's pretty anti-social. He won't even go near Alice if she's in his way."

Her dad opened his mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by the sounds of kids shouting excitedly mixed in with dogs barking. The older man let out a sigh as he raked a hand through his hair before he returned his attention to his grill.

"Just make sure that you keep an eye on him when the kids are around. I don't want to find out the hard way that he has rabies or something," he warned before he let out a sigh. "And you know how protective your uncle is when it comes to Jesse and Anna."

"Dog bites equal bad things. Yeah, I get it," Kit muttered before she shot Sanzo a warning look. "That means if you bite anyone, your ass is mine."

Sanzo let out an irritated huff as he tried to ignore the woman and focus more on nursing his wounded dignity, only to be roughly jerked out of his brooding by a loud, feminine squeal.

"_NEW BUDDY!!!"_

"_Huh?"_ the man managed to mutter as he looked up right before he was tackled by a fast-moving brown blur, the air leaving his lungs in a hurry as he was knocked over by the force of the blow.

"_Oh wow this is sooooooooooo cool, 'cause now I have someone other than that old grump Jethro to play with!! So, what's your name? My name's Sandy. Who's your owner? Is it Kitty or is it Nate? I hope you're Kitty's dog, 'cause she doesn't have one yet, and Mom won't let me go home with her. You smell funny, you know that? Kitty gave you a bath, didn't she? Because if she did then I fell really sorry for you. I hate baths. Jethro loves them, but he's weird like that."_

A low growl of annoyance made its way out of Sanzo's throat as he gathered his wits and shook his head, trying to dislodge the senseless yammering that was coming from somewhere off to his side. It sounded almost like Goku on a sugar high, only female.

Muttering curses under his breath, Sanzo blinked as he slowly got up from where he had landed on his side, and promptly proceeded to stare at the adolescent Sheltie that had tackled him, her white-tipped tail wagging happily back and forth as she proceeded to prattle on unhindered.

"_I think Jethro's so weird because he's old. He's been around… forever! You're not old, are you? I hope not, because old people are boring and-"_

"_So, I'm boring just because I'm old?"_ a male voice asked dryly right before the biggest dog Sanzo had ever seen emerged from the bushes, his brown eyes focused on the hyper Sheltie. _"I hate to be the bearer of bad news Sandy, but I'm only four years older than you."_

"_But that's-!"_

"_Sandy,"_ the older dog stated simply as he rolled his eyes upwards with a sigh, _"you're not even two yet. And you're scaring our guest."_

Sandy shut up as she focused her attention on Sanzo, who was staring at both dogs as though he thought that he had either lost his mind, or they were possessed. The collie's incredulous gaze was mostly focused on Jethro, who in his opinion looked almost like an oversized wolf on steroids. The massive Irish Wolfhound/German Shepherd mix arched an eyebrow as he recognized the incredulous stare for what it was before a slight smirk crossed his face, and he let out a low barking laugh.

"_What, you never seen someone this big before?"_ he asked teasingly, trying to put the visitor at ease.

Sanzo frowned slightly as he recovered from his unexpected shock, and he slowly shook his head before he shot a glare at Sandy.

"_What in the hell possessed you to tackle me like that anyways, brat?"_ he demanded sharply. Sandy's eyes widened before she started sniffling, a low whine emerging from her throat as she stared at the collie.

"_You're mean!"_ she finally yelped before she went and hid behind Jethro, who also looked distinctly annoyed at Sanzo's harsh comment. _"No wonder Kit has you in time out!"_

"_I am __**not**__ in time out, you damn mutt!!"_ Sanzo snarled as he took a step forward, only to be jerked to a stop by the leash attached to the chair. Muttering something incredibly foul under his breath, Sanzo seized the leash in his teeth and held it tight before he pawed at the sand for a few moments until he uncovered the end of the chair leg. Bracing his shoulder up against the frame of the chair, he jerked the handle of the leash down the leg of the chair until it slipped off, and backed away as he let the folding chair fall back onto the sand.

Jethro watched the entire scene with a frown before he positioned himself in front of Sandy, a low, threatening growl rumbling out of his throat as he glared at Sanzo.

"_If you want to try and hurt the pup, you'll have to go through me first, you stupid whelp,"_ the gray dog threatened angrily as he slowly bared his teeth at the man. _"I don't care if you're Kit's new dog. I'm the pack leader here, not you, and what I say goes."_

"_How wonderful for you,"_ Sanzo hissed acidly as he returned the dog's death glare with interest. _"And I don't give a damn about whether or not you're the 'pack leader' or whatever the hell you call it. I didn't want to be here in the first place, and I especially don't need to get a lecture from some senile old mutt with a leader complex. Now fuck off and leave me the hell alone."_

Jethro was entirely not amused with the younger dog's defiance, and Sanzo was just about to add something else to his previous statement when a small foam ball landed in between them.

"Dammit dog, can't you stay out of trouble for five freaking minutes?!" Kit called out from where she was standing a few yards away from them, currently focusing on keeping her cousins out of trouble while her aunt and uncle talked with her parents. "Jethro, cool it! Don't make me come over there!"

"Kit, don't cuss!!"

"Oh, put a sock in it, Nate!! You just said worse a few minutes ago!"

The impending dogfight was forgotten as Kit and Nate descended into a loud argument before their younger cousins decided that the older members of their party needed to be thoroughly soaked with a set of water guns.

"_You heard her. Don't start trouble,"_ Jethro offered as he relaxed his tense position slightly, although he still didn't budge from his protective stance in front of Sandy. Sanzo gave a rude snort as he turned his back on the two dogs and stalked off.

"_Tch. Do what you want,"_ he growled as he headed over to a thick clump of bushes, hoping that the other dogs would get the message and leave him the hell alone. He was definitely not in the mood to deal with kind of crap, and the fact that he was suffering from the worst case of nicotine withdrawal known to man was hardly helping his mood either.

Unfortunately, Jethro seemed bound and determined to ignore the warning signs that even Goku and Gojyo would have noticed as he padded after the moody priest, who was far less than enthusiastic when he noticed that he had been followed.

"_Do you really want to die that badly?!"_ Sanzo snarled as he whirled around to face the larger dog, unconsciously baring his teeth as he did so. _"I told you to leave me alone!"_

Jethro stared at him seriously for several long moments, a frown on his face, before he finally spoke. _"Just who or what are you?"_

"_What?"_

A low growl of annoyance came from the Irish Wolfhound mix as he glared at the priest, lifting his lips up slightly to reveal unnervingly sharp fangs.

"_Don't play dumb,"_ Jethro snapped as he placed himself solidly in Sanzo's path, his entire body tense. _"Whatever you are, I __**know**__ that you're not a dog!"_

Sanzo froze as he stared incredulously at the larger dog before he too adopted a defensive pose.

"_If you want to make something of it, you're welcome to try, old man,"_ he growled back harshly. Unfortunately, Jethro didn't rise to the bait as he watched the collie intently, a hard look in his eyes as he started pacing around Sanzo.

"_You're sidhé, aren't you?"_ Jethro finally accused, earning a bemused look from Sanzo. _"You're trying to lure Kit to __ríocht__na__sí!"_

Sanzo stared the other dog for several seconds, silently wondering if the canine was drunk, before he shook his head and let out a low growl of annoyance.

"_First that damn rat, and now you. Will __**someone**__ at least attempt to make __**some**__ kind of sense?!"_ the priest snapped as he glowered at Jethro. _"I am not trying to lure that girl anywhere! All I want to do is get back to Shangri-la, and break this damn curse, or spell, or whatever the hell it is! I've been stuck like this for a week, and I'm sick of it!!"_

The larger dog arched an eyebrow before he took a step forward, and sniffed Sanzo hesitantly. Before Sanzo could go off on his usual repertoire of death threats, Jethro recoiled as though he had just been hit in the face with something, his eyes wide as he stared at Sanzo with a mixture of incredulity… and pity.

"_You… you're a human, aren't you?"_ the gray dog finally asked before he amended his statement. _"Well, I think 'were' is probably a better term to use, since you obviously aren't anymore."_

"_Tell me something I don't know!"_ Sanzo snapped irritably as he sat down heavily on the sandy ground, glowering darkly at Jethro before a flicker of suspicion flashed through his eyes. _"How the hell could you tell anyways?"_

"_Your scent. Once I actually paid attention to it, I noticed that it reeked of magic, with just a bit of human hidden under it all"_ the wolfhound admitted with a slight shrug of his shoulders before he looked somewhat sheepishly at Sanzo. _"That's actually why I thought that you were sidhé at first. They're shape-shifters, and most of the people who know about them refer to them as the 'fair folk', or fairies, but they have this annoying tendency to try and abduct human women or children for their own. My mother once had one try to steal one of the boys of the family she lived with, but she was able to chase it off."_

"_And you thought that I was one of those 'shee' things trying to spirit Kit away? Tch, that's a new one."_

Jethro arched an eyebrow as he looked at the collie, who was currently glaring daggers at an inoffensive bush with a vengeance.

"_And why is that?"_

"_I've been called a lot of things, 'demon' and 'heretic' being among them, but I've never been called a fairy. At least not by anyone who wanted to live."_

Jethro bit back a snort before he shook his head, giving Sanzo a slight grin in response when the priest whipped around to glare at him. That was all it took before Jethro burst into a fit of rather undignified snickering, leaving Sanzo with the very strong urge to pull out his fan and beat the larger dog senseless. In some ways, Jethro reminded him of Gojyo, only not as prone to idiocy.

That didn't mean that he still didn't want to shoot the bastard full of holes for laughing at him though.

It took a while for Jethro to calm down enough to the point where he could look at Sanzo and not burst out laughing while saying something about 'angry golden fuzzballs'. By that point, the priest was at the very end of his patience, and about two seconds away from seeing if he was fast enough as a dog to try and kick Jethro's ass.

"_So, you mentioned that this was a curse of some kind?"_ Jethro finally asked after he got his amusement under control. Sanzo hesitated for a few seconds before he nodded curtly in agreement, scowling at the memory of his own carelessness.

"_Unfortunately, yes,"_ he growled irritably before he let out a long sigh. _"I don't suppose that you know how to break it?"_

Jethro looked thoughtful for several long moments, at one point muttering something under his breath in the same language that Sanzo had heard him use earlier, before he finally let out a long, weary sigh.

"_No, not really. I actually know very little about the supernatural, and what I do know was passed on to me from my mother before I was taken away from her as a pup,"_ the wolfhound admitted with a shrug, a slight frown of irritation flickering across his face as he did so.

"_Damn it."_

"_I fully agree with you on that one."_

The priest growled out an expletive, his long, plumed tail angrily lashing back and forth behind him for several seconds before he noticed. Sanzo stared hard at the appendage for a moment before he let out a wordless snarl, and promptly proceeded to sit on his tail to keep it from moving around.

Jethro blinked once, and then made the decision that it probably wasn't a good idea to laugh at Sanzo's actions.

He liked living, thank you very much.

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"Geez Nate, quit your whining for five seconds, will ya? Your damn hockey team lost, so what? It's not like it's the end of the world."

These oh so astute words of wisdom came from their brother-in-law, Zack Fair, who was currently sitting in the sand next to his wife, Emma, while watching the younger man complain loudly about his team's defeat. His bright blue eyes were narrowed slightly as he stared challengingly at Nate, but the easy grin on his face indicated that he wasn't serious.

Kit, having just emerged from playing in the surf with their cousins, flopped down on a towel next to her older sister and watched the two men bicker as she started to dry herself off. Sanzo, having been forced to be on his best behavior after Kit finally found him, was currently lying down on the sand, chained to the beach chair that Emma was sitting in.

"Do they have to do this every time we get together?" she asked the twenty-seven-year old, who just rolled her eyes upwards and shook her head, muttering something about people not changing under her breath.

"I think it's their way of getting into a pissing match without us kicking their butts," Emma responded as she straightened up a bit, her hand resting automatically on her swollen stomach as she watched her husband intently.

"I'm telling you, the ref had to have been paid off or something-!"

"And I'm telling you that I don't give a damn about your crackpot theories on how your team lost!"

"My theories are not crackpot!! I'm telling the truth, dammit!!"

"Nate, will you quit your damn bitching about the Coyotes kicking the Canucks asses?" Kit finally growled as she sat up and leveled a glare at her older brother. "I hate to break it to you, but it won't change the score. Besides, even New Jersey beat them in the last game. Face it bro, your hockey team sucks this year."

The older man made a low noise of annoyance in the back of his throat as he shot a dangerous glare at Kit.

"New Jersey?!" he demanded incredulously, his voice rising up to a shrill pitch that made Sanzo flatten his ears up against his head. "The **only** reason why New Jersey has been so good this year is due to the pact they made with the devil, hence the name! They fucking suck!! And your precious Red Wings aren't much better."

Kit arched an eyebrow as she looked at her brother, a slightly challenging smirk flickering across her lips as she did so.

"And yet the Red Wings, the team that you say 'couldn't hit the broad side of a barn', kicked the shit out of the Canucks last week," the woman said slyly before she smirked knowingly at her older sibling. "Sorry, but the Red Wings own all."

"_Buddha save me from this insanity,"_ Sanzo groaned loudly as he fought the urge to start pounding his head against the closest available hard surface. He didn't even know what the hell hockey was!

Fortunately for him, Emma seemed just as tired of Nathan's never-ending complaining and arguing as he was.

"Nathan James Fargo, shut up about your stupid hockey crap before I hit you with my 'Shut-the-hell-up' shoe!" the short-haired brunette snapped angrily, her green eyes flashing as she bent down and swiftly removed one of her wooden-soled shoes. Kit was forced to bite back a snicker as Nate cringed visibly, although Zack guffawed loudly at the younger man's unease.

"And so the pregnant woman has spoken," he chuckled as he raked a hand through his messy black hair that mostly stuck up in the back, making him look like a demented porcupine was perched on top of his head. "All who hear must obey or die."

"Shut up," Nate muttered darkly as he glared daggers at the older man. "At least I'm not the one who's whipped."

Kit, Emma, and Sanzo suddenly found themselves with front-row seats to a wrestling match as Zack flung himself bodily at his brother-in-law, sending Nate crashing to the ground as the other man sought to defend his honor. The two women watched the fight in front of them with almost identical deadpan expressions on their faces before they looked at each other, with Kit rolling her eyes and Emma letting out an exasperated sigh as she began to massage the bridge of her nose.

"I'm going to get a brat," Kit finally announced as she got to her feet, brushing sand off of her swimsuit as she did so. "You want anything?"

"A brat sounds good. Oh, and see if there's any root beer in the cooler too, will you?"

"Can do," the woman said with a grin before she headed off in the direction of the grill. "You going to make sure that these two idiots don't kill each other?"

"Of course."

"… is the 'shut-the-hell-up' shoe going to be put into use?"

"More likely than not, especially if they don't knock it off soon."

Kit winced slightly, but then smirked knowingly at the two males still trying their best to kick the other's respective ass while rolling around in the sand as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well guys, it's been nice knowing you," she quipped before she strolled off to retrieve the promised food, leaving behind a pair of rather nervous-looking men as they both eyed Emma warily. Sanzo arched an eyebrow at the scene before he gave a rude-sounding snort and turned his back on the three people.

"_Idiots."_

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Phew, it took forever, but I finally got this chapter done. Between school, work, and my older being a selfish jackass, my writing has taken a dive lately. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter up faster, since I already know what I want to happen in it.

**Reviews**

Patriot16: No, romance would not be good, at least not at this point in the plot so far. Maybe waaaay in the future, but that still has yet to be seen. As for Hakkai and the others, they won't show up in Kit's world, and they most definitely won't be animals. Things will start to clear up a little later in the future.

Begoshi: I'm glad that you like the story, as well as the mental headcase that is Blair. He's going to be a bit of a pain in the ass for Sanzo in the future.

Dragon of Twilight: It won't happen in the next chapter, but maybe after that one.

SugarLandBabyGirl: Thanks for reading it.

Kawari: I'm glad that you think that Sanzo's in character, and that Kit is realistic. Just know that nothing is ever going to come easily to her, be it dealing with her new 'dog', or other complications that might ensue afterwards. I like my main OC's to be people you could have gone to school with, you know, just ordinary, average people… who just happen to have some incredibly weird things happen to them.

AlienaCooper: Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

CassiaFistula: Well, that's kind of hard for the time being, because we'll be finding out about that soon enough.

Thank you everyone for all of the reviews, and I'll see you again in the next chapter.


	5. Notice

Okay, you guys are probably all going to hate my guts for this, but I'm quitting this story.

Everything is just too… clichéd. It doesn't help that I lost all of my typed-up chapters for future chapters due to a malfunctioning flash-drive, and pretty much lost my inspiration to write. I still enjoy the anime and the manga, but I don't enjoy writing fanfiction for anime and manga anymore. It's just... lost its appeal to me. And after the fiasco that I was forced to suffer through in December with one of my reviewers cyber-stalking me... well, that was when it really started. After that, I just became really cynical about the whole genre.

I really had fun writing anime fan-fiction when I did do it, but all it really took was one person to suck all of the joy out of it. It's not fun for me any more, and do you honestly want someone writing something when they don't enjoy it? I'm so sorry.

If one of you wants to continue the story, just give me a head's up, okay?

I'm sorry, honestly, I am. But I can't do it any more.


End file.
